A Rebirth and A Revival
by avalon-chan
Summary: [Advent Children:AU] Can Cloud Strife face the rising of an old enemy alone or will he need the help of a fallen ally?
1. No Happy Endings

Disclaimer: Advent Children is owned by Square-something. This is a non-profit work only for entertainment purposes.

A Revival and A Rebirth

"_This is the galaxy's wish? Does it mean that to end all struggles everything must die? Is it my turn to swing the sickle of death? Because it's necessary does that make it right?" _Sailor Moon Act 9: Star 9

Chapter One

No Happy Endings

_For a special mother daughter pair, the world consisted of an endless field of bright, yellow flowers. Their yellow and green Eden extended fair beyond human sight until it faded away into a hazy of green, some believed to be the life-blood of Gaea. Past the green wall was the fabled Promise Land were the women would be able to final be able to obtain true peace. They could not cross the green expanse yet for the duty, the Planet had given them, was not yet for filled. Their ancient enemy still stalked Gaea._

_They knew the Planet's wishes but until now it had been impossible for them to carry out their goal. He, however, continued to interfere in the process. _

_The daughter had thought that after death He would understand what she needed to do to truly cleanse Gaea. Naively, she had believed that He would have supported her in her arduous task. Time and again He would keep her from talking to the one man that could final bring and end to Jenova, Cloud. _

_Her heart ached when she thought of the blond, spiked haired hero. Cloud had created feelings inside of her that she could not understand even now as she resided in the Life Stream. With all her heart she wished he could be at peace. The type of peace that was impossible for him as long as Jenova lived. _

_Why could not He understand that, her thought towards him had become slightly tinted with anger. Did not He find peace when he was freed from Jenova's call, no matter how weak it's influence been against him. Could not he understand that he was depriving Cloud of a life of peace by his interferences. _

_After all this time He would not or could not understand. It did not matter, she thought sorrowfully, as she looked over the endless gold and green of her world. Each time he attempted to block her He would grow weaker. _

_Without the blessings of the Planet he could not continue reaching into the living world. Soon he would drift away and finaly be reunited with the Life Steam. There he would come to the understanding that she was doing was right. _

_He could never keep her from reaching one of the Planet's chosen. A simple, little girl that would allow her to for fill her propose, her people's propose. _

"_Its time," her mother said from behind girl just as the older woman finished braiding the girl's long chestnut hair. Her mother was right. She could feel the tide changing down on earth threatening to consume her friend. _

_Closing her eyes to her world as she reached for her connection to the living world outside of the Life Stream. _

_He would understand what she was doing at the end. From behind her, the girl's mother wrapped the girl in a warm, loving hug. Her mother's reassurance filled her as she leaned into the hug. "Aeris, my darling, do not fear. He will understand given time. He was once one of the beast and is unable to think outside from being her pawn."_

_Aeris nodded at her mother's words of comfort. Banishing her fears she reached out past the Life Stream into the world of the living. In the living world she could feel the taint of the beast consuming the air around her. They would have to hurry the beast was being to rise. _

"_Marlene," she whispered as she reached the girl's mind in the living world. The girl listened intently as she began telling the child the things that she would say to Cloud when they would meet. _

A young mercenary stood beside his motorcycle staring out over barren land surrounding the city of Midgar wondering where he should go.

Two years ago, almost to the day, Aeris had died. A memorial would be held tomorrow by AVALANCHE.

Cloud Strife, former leader of AVALANCHE, did not even have a clue to the location. The first memorial had taken place at Rocket Town because Cid and Shera were pregnant at the time. Cid would not endanger Shera's health by having her move around.

A ghost of a smile pasted the young man's lips as he thought of the comic event. The smile faded almost as if it had never been as the present realities weighted heavy on his mind.

His last meeting with the group had been terrible. The things he said to all them, he shook his head sharply trying to chase the grief away. It rose in him gathering his insides into a thick cord of sickness. He wanted to pretend it had not been him saying those hateful things but he had stop living in illusions long before the disaster.

The worse thing was he could not even remember what set him off. Yuffie had been attempting to tease him and he snapped. Words just flew out of his mouth without stopping, even after he realized what he was saying. All the stress and fear he had been feeling for weeks had come to a head that night.

No one said anything to him almost like they where expecting him to snap like some weak fool. _Isn't that want you are? _Tifa had just stared at him with tears forming in her crimson eyes saying nothing. Why should she, he had been saying everything she thought.

Had not she been the one bothering him about his deteriorating mental health. She was the one who suggested taking him to a doctor in front of everyone so they would know how weak he was. He should have never told her about the nightmares or how he was starting to hearing/feeling things that were not there. If she had not said anything then no one would have ever known. They would have...

Cloud whipped his spiky head violently causing white lights to dash across his vision. A familiar terror gripped him as he realized it was happening again.

Anger was rising up in him with out cause or provocation. A sharp pain ran up his arm from his hands and he looked down. His gloved hands were gripping the Ferris's handle bar far to tightly. Gently, he removed his hands watching in detached wonder as they shook with his emotions.

What was happening to him, he asked himself silently as mako eyes widened with terror. Why was he blaming Tifa for what happening? The fault was entirely his. He was not strong enough to fight what ever was happening to his mind.

That was why he left that night. If he could not stop from merely snapping at his friends what would he do if he came up with a more violent method of release? He could let that happen.

The episodes had dramatically worsened since he left them, no Tifa. Back at the Seventh Heaven they had begun to increase but Tifa had always been there to tell him everything was all right. It had not been all right, but now all he wanted to hear was Tifa soft voice telling him not to worry.

She never complained about him waking her up in the middle of the night with his nightmares or even when he was listening to the voices instead of her. The one time she brought it up he told her it was nothing. At the time she had dropped the topic but now he knew she went out of her way to help him.

All she ever did was help him. He was so useless to her. He could never keep any of his promises to her. Leave was the only way for him to protect her. She could take care of herself and the children without any problems. With him gone she could focus on the children, they deserved her help more than he ever would. With him gone she was never endanger of him messing everything up. _Failure. You messed up everything. Zack should have just left you to die. _

"Correct you are nothing more than a failure. A pity." Cloud turned his to the left, to face the dreaded voice from the past. He could not face this now, not on the eve of Aeris death. Why was his mind haunting him like this?

"Why are you here?" A mere two yards away, leaning casual on dead tree was Cloud's silver haired personal nightmare. The general's response to Cloud's growl was rising his eyebrow slightly, an arrogant smirk on his handsome face.

"Stop haunting me!" Despite Cloud's best attempt his voice broke slightly from his fear. This was just a phantom from his mind. Sephiroth was just a figment of his fractured mind that he should just will away.

How to fight against your own mind was not something he had ever learned. Zack had not been able to teach Cloud that trick. The only person that could have helped was miles away safe from him in Midgar. _Tifa I am so sorry I failed you again._

"Wake up." In less than a blink of an eye, Cloud was staring at the black leather of Sephiroth's trench coat. The young man stumbled back away from the overpowering figure of the General. Memories swirled through Cloud's mind from the nearness of the General. The hero worship, anger, and the fear that was so integrated into Cloud's soul.

Caught up in the storm of emotions Cloud did not even think of reaching for a sword for protection. The world around him seemed to freeze as he looked up into the glowing green abyss of Sephiroth's eyes. They pulled at Cloud's soul causing something to stir within.

The spell was broken as Sephiroth with inhuman speed caught Cloud by the throat and pulled him off his feet. Cloud's attempted at a protest was cut off as Sephiroth began to crush the younger man's throat.

"Your not a puppet. Why do you continue playing these games with yourself?" _What?_ The edges of Cloud's vision began to shadow as the life was crushed out of him. "There is not any more time." Confusion gripped Cloud's mind as tightly as Sephiroth gripped his throat. Drawing on all his strength Cloud pulled at Sephiroth's hand in a vain attempt to be released from both adversaries.

The silver haired man drew the blond man up level to his face, to his eyes. Cloud looked away not wanting to be drawn in again. The stirring sensation had disturbed him more than the General.

"You are playing the fool. Why won't you see the true?" Cloud's hands slipped away from Sephiroth's hand as his strength completely left him. It seemed that the General's tone was not mocking but actually irritated, the type of irritation a teacher got when he could not get a student to apply an easy lesson. He had to be mistaken Sephiroth would not be trying to help him. It was just his dying mind acting against him.

"Look at me." The commanding tone of the General's voice and a very ancient instinct caused Cloud's head to turn against his will.

The green mako orbs pierced into Cloud's soul causing the storm of emotions to erupt anew in his mind. The storm did not pull him under this time it seemed to form an image against the green backdrop of Sephiroth's eye.

A woman clothed in black was lying in a small circler patch of yellow flowers, an angel fallen from heaven. Blank crimson eyes stared up at him devoid of life in any sense. _Tifa. _"Was the way I died a good way?"

Reality came crashing into Cloud as he collapsed onto his knees gasping for air. That dream could not have been true. Tifa was back at the Seventh Heaven, safe. There were not more enemies who would try and kill her.

When his breathing returned to normal, Cloud began to review the situation. The vision could not be true. Tifa could take care of herself without him being there. It was just a nightmare his mind created like all the others.

This time it was more difficult to push aside the nightmare. Sephiroth had awakened something in his mind and it was showing Cloud things.

The voices began to take a solid form in his mind. People, the voices in his head were other people. The new images were not coherent enough for him to tell who the people were but he could tell they were people. Past these people he could feel an underlining pull.

He had felt the pull before during this year alone but now he knew what it was. A slight smile crossed his lips as he realized that he had not been going insane. He was still a failure, he thought with a frown. This whole year, no longer than that, he'd been playing right into Her hands.

Cloud smashed his fist into the ground cursing with frustration. He'd been doing all the work for Her, just like he did with Sephiroth. All She had to do was mess with him a bit and watch as he drove himself mad.

What of the vision of Tifa? It was not like any of his other nightmare. Cloud could not think of what She would gain from showing him such a vision.

The other people where heading towards Midgar. Faster than a cat, the mercenary, leap to his feet. Towards Midgar, Tifa was in Midgar.

Wildly, He thrust his hand into his saddlebag trying to locate the small PHS. The PHS had sat there since he left completely forgotten.

He barely thought as he drew the tiny plastic item out of his bag. Looking at the humble PHS let loose the floodgates of guilt he had been trying to hold back. He forced the feelings back with anger. This time he was not going to fail Tifa. He would keep his promise.

The tiny kitchen of the Seventh Heaven had a very lonely air to it as the young owner of the bar walked inside. The children that normal ran screaming through the cramped room were all watching their favorite movie. Tifa smiled with bitterness as she thought about the movie that was being viewed by the children. An account of how AVALANCHE had saved the world.

The name of the movie had always escaped Tifa's memory but how she hated it. The movie was a heavily edited version of the actually events that happened during Meteor. It made Tifa so angry that all their trials had been shoved away like a bad nightmare.

Looking at the world two years latter, could anyone honestly say the world had been saved. Midgar and the rest of the cities of the world had begun to rise during the first few months after Meteor. It actually appeared that the world would become a better place to live, that people were becoming better than before.

A new disaster had struck destroying the peace she and her friends had worked so hard to create. Geostigma was the name and it was an unstoppable enemy. The unity of Midgar was proven to be fragile against this new threat.

In the length of a month people began throwing children out of the streets afraid that they would catch the disease. No one knew how it was transmitted but the victim's were more commonly children.

Overnight time seemed to turn back to the time of Shinra rule. Tifa had not even noticed the change at first for her life seemed to improve with the spread of the plague.

After Meteor Cloud, Barrett, and Marlene had all settled down with her to help repair Midgar. They had become the family Tifa had always dreamed about since her mother's dead. When Cloud began bringing additional children home it really seemed like heaven.

She smiled at all the fond memories she had at the time. Even though the world was falling all around them, her for the first time had been perfect. Then everything came crashing down around her.

At the beginning of the Geostigma out break Cloud had begun having nightmares. Living with Cloud she was accustomed to his nightmares but they became more and more frequent. Towards the end he was having several nightmares every night.

Tifa tried her hardest to help her old friend. Whenever she heard any unrest from his room, she would always go inside and sit at the foot of his bed. When the nightmare worsened, they always did, she would hold his quaking shoulders and tell him everything was all right. If he went back to bed she would sat in his room incase it happened again.

Cloud would never talk about the nightmares to her or Barrett. He would smile at her the way he always did and shrug it off. Barrett told her not to worry, that it was normal for Cloud to act this way, so Tifa did nothing.

The strange behavior soon began to affect his normal life. Cloud had never been that outgoing but he soon became sullen and silent. No matter what she did he would just stare off into space with an empty look in his bright mako eyes.

Her only support, Barrett, had left by this time looking for a new source of power. Midgar had begun experiencing a major power crisis. Reeves and the remaining Shinra did not have the resource to work on that problem.

Worrying for Marlene's safely Barrett set out for Coral to see if he could convince the people to return to mining. From his calls and letters it seemed that work was progressing well but slowly.

With Barrett gone life around the Seventh Heaven became very lonely. Despite her efforts Cloud continued drifting away from her. At times he attempted to be himself but it was always a hollow attempt. His smile no longer reached his eyes.

Frightened for Cloud's health Tifa had begun calling the other members of AVALANCHE to see if they had any advise. The response was the same as Barrett's. Cloud was just going through something and he would get better when things settled down.

Deep in her heart Tifa knew there advice was wrong. Cloud had never acted like this before not even when they were fighting Sephiroth, not even when Aeris died. The worse conclusion had arrived come to her mind as she continued watching him deteriorate. Her dearest, oldest friend was sick.

For the longest time she believed it to be Geostigma. That was the only logical answer. Cloud's problem began with Geostigma could not that be the source as well. The logic was flawed from the beginning. Caring for Denzel had giving Tifa an understanding of the symptoms of the disease. Cloud's behavior was strange but he never experienced pain or unconsciousness Geostigma's.

The only other logical answer Tifa dreaded with all her being. He could have developed a mental illness. In the end it made the most sense. Cloud had gone through so much suffering that it had to leave a mark on him. Not once did he ever speak to her about what happened at Hojo's lab. Nor would he talk about Zack and Tifa could tell he wanted to

When she accepted this conclusion she did not go to Cloud. He had remained strong through out his hardships and he could still fight against this one. For her to tell him her fears would cause more problems. Cloud's greatest fear was being a failure. A perceived mental illness would be a failure in his eyes, no matter what she said.

Cloud changed her mind when he snapped at one of the children for no reason whatsoever. The girl, Amy, had been coloring quietly at the kitchen table when Cloud had begun to yell at her.

Tifa could remember everything so vividly even now. Amy had run behind Tifa's legs as Tifa had walked into the room to see what was the matter. Trembling hands had gripped Tifa's skirt as Cloud walked towards them.

Never in her life had Tifa been afraid of her old friend until that moment. Cloud's eyes were blazing with anger and insanity. The anger had twisted his face horrible. Tifa placed a comforting hand on the girl as she continued staring at Cloud. At the time she wished someone had been there to comfort her. Seeing Cloud like this tore her heart in two.

"Cloud," she said his name in a soft voice, the one she reserved for the children when they were frightened. The anger drained from Cloud's face instant, leaving him pale and shaking in terror. Cloud looked at them both for a long time. Tifa stood completely still so she would not frighten him. The glowing blue eyes were filled with more raw terror than Tifa had ever seen in a person.

Cloud turned and ran back to his room. To her horror Tifa breathed a sigh of relief at his departed. She hated her response but it was all she could do. If Cloud had tried to do anything she would have been powerless against him.

That was when she realized she could not hide from her responsibilities any longer. Cloud need help, she could not give him.

The next day she sat down to talk about seeing a doctor. He brushed aside her pleas for him to seek help as nothing like before. Tifa knew she could not for him to go so she came up with another plan.

At the memorial service for Aeris she brought up the subject. For the older members of the group it had not come as a surprise. The month before she had called Cid, Vincent, Reeve, and Barrett and told them of Cloud's episode.

They all offered help this time instead of advice. Cid had told to bring herself and the children to Rocket Town. He was quite sure Shera would not have mind having them over. Reeve offered to have Cloud forced into a hospital, for her and the children's protection.

Tifa still smiled at Barrett's response. He told her that he was going to come right back there and beat that spiky jerk into submission.

All the offers were declined. She was so happy that there were that many people willing to care for her and the children but she could not leave Cloud alone. Instead she asked them for help in convincing Cloud to seek help.

Foolishly, she had not told the young ninja about Cloud's episodes. Being herself, Yuffie began teasing Cloud about the issue not realizing how serious it was.

Cloud just snapped. The old pain rose in Tifa again as she thought back to the day. She was not sure how long he stood there yelling at the stunned group. None of the AVALANCHE members had ever seen Cloud like that before and had no idea how to respond.

For Tifa it seemed like hour and all of it had been directed at her. Then as suddenly as he began he left. The room was very silent as everyone sat there staring at where Cloud had been sitting. Tears stung her eyes but she kept from crying. Unsurprisingly Yuffie broke the silence. "My bad."

No one wanted Tifa to return to the Seventh Heaven until they were sure where Cloud had gone. They were afraid of him. Tifa could not blame them for she had been terrified herself for months. She had to return though to check on the children and try and explain what had happened to them.

The Seventh Heaven was quiet when she returned. The children were all asleep and Cloud was not there to wait up for her. She did a quick check on the children then went to her own room. Hanging in the upper corner of her vanity was a folded sheet of paper.

The paper had been wedged between the glass and the frame. Tifa carefully took the note down. She turned it over in her hand for the longest time not wanting to see what was written. There was no doubt in her mind Cloud written the note.

"I am not coming home. Sorry Teef." That was so much like Cloud leaving nothing but a note. She pulled the note to her heart taking a deep breath. Cloud was going to find himself, alone this time. All she could do was wait for him to return.

That had been a year ago, Cloud had not returned nor had he written anything. He was always on her mind but the children and Seventh Heaven had become a priority for her. At times though she felt very lonely.

The members of AVALANCHE lived very far away, the people in the slums were friendly but it was not the same. She wanted Cloud to come back to stay with her forever. It was a childish dream, one she had on particularly lonely days. Life did go on without Cloud.

The phone began ringing in the distance shrilly cutting through Tifa's thoughts. The dark haired woman continued into the kitchen ignoring the phone. Her mood was far to melancholy to deal with anyone at the moment. One of the children would take a message for her.

She sat down on the window seat staring into the in empty kitchen. For her the kitchen was never truly empty all sorts of wonderful memories filled the room. This was the place where she, Cloud, Barrett, and Marlene were at their happiest.

When she came into this room she could feel her mood rise out of any depression that might have developed during the long day. She could clearly remember the time Cloud and the children had tried making her breakfast in bed. They had spilled flour everywhere. When they came into her room she almost had a heart attack because they looked like ghost with all that flour on them.

A smile came to her face and widened as she lost herself in memories of happy times. "Aunt Tifa," Marlene's cheerful voice interrupted her reminiscing. The young girl ran into the kitchen with a slight pant holding the phone triumphantly over her head.

"What is it?" Tifa asked as she walked over to the small girl with confusion. Normal Marlene was to shy to speak to strangers. "It's Uncle Cloud he called just like I said he would." The girl squealed as Tifa took the phone from her in shock.

For an entire year he had not attempted at communication? Had he decided to come back? She tried to control the joy rising in her. This could be nothing, her common sense told her as she tried to fight her emotions back. He might be calling to say anything. The rest of her was just to excited to think of anything but Cloud.

With Marlene's silent cheer Tifa answered the phone. "Hello Cloud, how are you doing?" Her voice did not betray any of her emotions as she waited for his reply. "Teef, I've missed you."

It was him she thought with excited. Just hearing his voice brought tears of joy to her eyes. His voice sound like it had before his episodes began. Had he gotten better this year away?

"I've missed you to Cloud." Now her emotions began to clutter up her voice but she did not care. This was Cloud, he need to know how happy she was to hear from him.

"Are you going to the memorial?" The question was asked in a very hesitant manner, like he did not expect her to answer him. Cloud is back to normal.

"Yes. Are you going?" There was a slight nervous pause in the conversation. "Teef, could we maybe go together with Marlene?" "Of course," she most sound like an over eager schoolgirl. There were so many questions she wanted to ask him about what had happened to him.

"Do you want to meet here? We'll be ready whenever you're ready." There was another pause. "No. It would be better for me if we meet at the Church."

Tifa was not quite sure why he could not meet them at the Seventh Heaven but she was sure he would explain when they got there. "Sure, what time do you want to meet?"

"When ever you get there I'll be waiting. Bye." "Bye," Tifa turned off the phone, and smiled at it. It struck her as strange that Cloud did not say much. He must want to tell her what happened in person.

"Well," Marlene looked up at Tifa with excitement. Tifa favored the girl with a huge sunny smile. "We're going to see Cloud."

The little girl jumped with excitement. "Yes." Tifa screamed along with her glad that the long waiting was over.

The movie about how Aunt Tifa saved that world was extremely boring. Mr. Barrett telling the story was far cooler, Denzel thought with boredom.

There was no way Sephiroth was so weak looking. He was Mr. Cloud's enemy he had to be way stronger. Denzel bet he was at least nine feet tall, bigger that Mr. Barrett, and could breathe fire. All cool bad guys could breath fire.

He would have to ask Aunt Tifa about Sephiroth when she got back. Aunt Tifa had been there too even though she never talked about it with the kids.

The woman they picked to play Aunt Tifa was really ugly looking. No wonder, Aunt Tifa didn't want to watch the movie with the rest of them.

The phone began ringing interrupting the children as they tried to watch the movie. No one wanted to answer the phone and miss seeing Mr. Cloud, ugly Aunt Tifa, and there dog friend take out that annoying fat man. Against the children's wishes the phone continued ring.

"Answer that."

"No way, I want to see them take out that dork."

"Come one Rick you're always watching this."

The argument began to annoy Denzel more than the movie so he went to answer it. He hoped that it was Mr. Cid because he was so cool. Yeah, it had to be Mr. Cid, Denzel decided with excitement. The crazy blond man could be calling to let Denzel ride in the airship again. That had been the coolest thing ever.

Denzel picked up the phone and jumped as it shouted at him. "Tifa is that you." The boy blinked with surprise. Why would Mr. Cloud be calling for Aunt Tifa if she just left to see him? "No, it's me Denzel. Aunt Tifa went to see you?"

"What?" Denzel moved the phone away from his ear as Mr. Cloud yelled again. Aunt Tifa said Mr. Cloud was sick so maybe he could not hear very well. To bad, Denzel had wanted Mr. Cloud to be sick like him so they could hang out more. Mr. Cloud was just to cool.

"Aunt Tifa went to see you awhile ago." Mr. Cloud let out a stream of curses that was far cooler than anything Mr. Barrett ever said.

"Denzel can you please tell me were she went." Wow, Mr. Cloud was far angrier than Mr. Barrett ever got, so cool. Mr. Cloud was being silly by not remembering where Aunt Tifa was going to meet him. Denzel bet she was going to beat Mr. Cloud up for forgetting about her.

"I don't remember." There was a sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line. Denzel was very nervous he did not want his idol to be angry with him.

"Denzel," the man on the other side of the line spoke very calmly. That was strange. Denzel could have sworn he was very angry a moment ago. "What was the last thing you remember her saying?"

Now that Denzel realized his hero was not angry with him, he tried to remember better. "Oh yeah, She and Marlene were heading to the flower place."

The line went completely dead. Denzel stared at the phone for a moment. Mr. Cloud is so awesome.


	2. Late Again

Disclaimer: Advent Children is owned by Square-something. This is a non-profit work only for entertainment purposes.

Chapter Two

Late Again

The only movement in the empty slum streets was a tiny girl skipping followed by an older woman at a slower pace. Tifa watched Marlene travel down the streets, amused by the child's enthusiasm to see Cloud. The slight amusement seemed to fade as the woman's uneasiness continued to haunt her.

After hearing from Cloud she had been far more excited to see her old friend than her little friend was now. She had felt so impatient as she pulled Marlene's hair up in Aeris old ribbon. Now though her feet did not want to carry her to the Church that she went to everyday. An ache had been forming in her heart as she watched the young girl skip.

With Aeris old ribbon in her hair Marlene remind Tifa so much of the flower girl. The child-like woman would have been skipping just like the little girl to see Cloud.

This was not the first time Marlene had worn the ribbon before. It had become a normal accessory for the girl. One day after Cloud had left, Marlene and Tifa had been looking through the items left over from AVALANCHEs grand adventure, when they came across the ribbon.

Moments before the discovery, Tifa had been showing off Cloud's dress and they had both laughed themselves to tears. Then Tifa had pulled out the old pink ribbon sobering. She had not expected to see the ribbon sitting in the trunk looking so out of place in the assorted junk gathered over the adventure.

The ribbon had intrigued Marlene and the girl had asked to have it. Tifa had agreed. Aeris would have wanted her ribbon to be in uses not sitting in a trunk forgotten. The only person who would have objected had left along time ago.

Seeing the ribbon had brought an anxiety to Tifa's mind that she could not shake. The phone conversation troubled Tifa the most. Cloud on the phone sound exactly as he had before his mental illness began. It seemed impossible to the young woman that Cloud would have recover so perfectly over a years time with no contact from his friends.

At first she told herself that her trouble was coming from her fear of how Cloud would react to her. He still sounded the same but how would he treat her when they meet. Not wanting to meet at the Seventh Heave made Tifa wonder if he still considered her a friend. Was he just asking to meet her to tell her good bye again?

Tifa had always believed that Cloud would return to her no matter what his note had said. Now she wondered if he had been speaking the truth. He might not come home.

That thought brought tears to her eyes then she saw the bouncing ribbon and remembered the time she and Marlene had found the ribbon.

She had not expected to find the ribbon in that particular trunk but she had not been surprised that Cloud had hidden it away. Cloud had tried to give the ribbon to the group when things settled down after Meteor. The offer was pushed aside. Cid had told Cloud to keep it as a reminder of Aeris.

They had not realized that Cloud had made a great deal off effort to avoid anything that reminded him of the flower girl. Tifa knew. Cloud was still haunted by his self-imposed guilt over Aeris's death.

Things that reminded him of Aeris reminded him of his worse failure. For the year they were together Tifa tried to help but Cloud pushed her aside. Could he have changed that much in a year?

A bright burst of sunlight cut off Tifa's thoughts, they were almost at the church. Tifa looked up at the magnificent building feeling her breath leave her. Meteor had been cruel to most of Midgar but by a miracle the church had been blessed by the destruction.

The plate overhead had spit perfectly around the church forming a protective shell around the building. The destruction of the upper plate allowed fresh sunlight to stream down around the building giving it a holy glow.

Tifa had never been here with Aeris but she believed the other woman would have been pleased with the church. While the building still remained in ruins, Tifa and the children came her often tending to the flowers.

Sometimes it felt like Aeris was watching over Tifa and the children as they worked. Normally, thinking of the church brought a smile to Tifa no matter her mood but not to day.

With no one around the building had taken on an almost sinister air. This would be a perfect place for an ambush, Tifa reasoned. No one would be around to hear any sounds of struggle and the remains of the upper plate would shield them form sight.

Tifa could not bring herself to believe that Cloud would draw her to an ambush but she was begin to believe a stranger had been on that phone. The Cloud she remembered had never returned to the church after Meteor. He had told her the building remind her of how he had never allowed Aeris to meet his true self.

The building was a constant reminder of his failure. Cloud's mental anguish had always been tied to his guilt. If he had over come his guilt why had not he returned before now.

There were no more enemies that Tifa know of but that did not mean this was not a trap. Who ever had been on the phone could not have been Cloud or so she hoped.

With this realization, the doubt Tifa had been feeling vanished. Replaced by a new fear. This enemy that called her here most have a great deal of knowledge of the group to have impersonated Cloud so well.

"Marlene," she called out to the girl causally trying to mask her knowledge from the enemy. They need to get out of there as fast as possible. The girl missed Tifa's warnings as she sprinted up the stairs to see Cloud.

Tifa began to call for the girl again but the child gave a terrified gasp as she looked into the church. Afraid for Marlene Tifa broke out into a run planning on grabbing the small girl and escaping.

Only a moment passed as Tifa made her way up the stairs to Marlene. The martial artist froze as she looked to see who was waiting for them in the church.

A slim silver haired man leaned against the alter watching the pair with indifference in his glowing green eyes. Sephiroth, Tifa gasped with horror forcing the stunned Marlene behind her never moving her eyes off the man.

The black clad man standing across from the women was far too young to be the general that haunted Tifa's past. The resemblance was far too uncanny for Tifa to push aside however. Even from this distance she see that his eyes were abnormal cold. An inhuman aura seemed to radiate from the man filling the church like a dark shadow.

"Who are you?" Tifa's voice was strong and her face a mask as she asked her question. Deep in her soul she realized that running would not be an option. She would have to distract the man and allow Marlene to escape and call for help.

A feeling of gratitude filled her as she started at the man. If it had been Cloud waiting in the church she would not have know what to do.

"That doesn't really concern you." Another man stepped out of the shadows answering the question. Like the first he borrow a close resemblance to her long dead enemy. He, however, had a bulkier build than the legendary general and his silver hair had been cut short.

Tifa's trained eyes detected a fighter's grace about his movements. He was strong, stronger than the female martial artist but she detected an over powering arrogance in his expression. A weakness, Tifa mused as she attempted to keep he eyes on both of the young man.

"You're the famous Tifa Lockhart." He openly looked her over smirking at what he saw. Keeping her face carefully blank, Tifa responded to the man. "Yes, what do you want?"

The man sneered at her responses. Had he been expecting to get a rise out of her? He seemed to be radiating arrogance but could it be a shield for inexperience.

"We want that little leech clinging to your nice long legs." Cruel green eyes locked on the girl half hidden behind Tifa. Filled with terror Marlene tightened her grip on Tifa. The older woman placed a protective hand on the girl as she tried to figure out how they would survive.

It would be impossible for her to fight both of the men. The man that was talking was very arrogant but she could tell he was well trained. Not only that he had a large claw like weapon on his left arm. He would be overwhelming in anything but a one-on-one fight.

Her crimson eyes wandered to the longhaired man. During the brief exchange of words he had not so much as moved. His face revealed nothing about himself. Tifa had a feeling that he would be an even more challenging opponent than his friend.

"Don't worry about fighting both of us. This can be settled in a far more sporting manor." Tifa doubted that there was anything sporting about the man but this might give her a chance. "See I'm looking for a good fight and I've hear you're one of the best around."

"You want us to fight over who gets Marlene." The man nodded stepping forwards in anticipation. "That's right you win my friend lets you and the girl go. You loss." The challenge was finished with a quick cutting gesture.

Tifa glanced at the man's companion who regarded her with expressionless eyes. The silver haired man did not seem like the type to allow an honorable fight.

"Don't worry about him." The larger man followed her gaze smirking lightly. "He won't interfere in my fun."

"Marlene hide." Tifa whispered to the young girl as her crimson eyes focused completely on the other martial artist seeking out weakness. If he was being honorable then there might be a chance that Marlene and she could escape. If not then Marlene would be able to escape.

"I am Tifa Lockhart, who are you?" The man's smirk widened with her acceptance, "I am known as Loz." Somewhere in the distance Tifa felt Marlene move into the rubble of the church. The longhair man did not move in response. With Marlene relatively safe, Tifa acted.

Before the man had a chance to react Tifa had crossed the distance unleashing a series of quick palm strike. Her only advantage in this fight was her speed and size. Keeping close to the man to constrain his ability to properly counteract against her.

Not to her surprise the man took the blows without even an attempt to block. Tifa did not stop her attack. Each of her blows was carefully planned out to see his defensive capabilities. Still he did not respond to her attacks.

Taking a risk, Tifa attempted to kick him. This time he responded. With inhuman speed, far more speed than Tifa could have every imagined him having, he grabbed her foot.

The next thing Tifa realized was she was flying through the air along with a storm of flower petals towards one of the brick wall. Instincts honed by the trails of Meteor kicked in and Tifa was able to stretch her body lean body out catching herself against the wall. She quickly reevaluated her opponent, as she looked up the meet him in the eyes.

A wide smirk stretched out across his face as he realized that she was still capable of fighting. The arrogance she detected before reached out of the mako eyes like a horrible beast.

The longer she looked into his eyes the more she realized that she could win this fight. Physical he was far more superior than she was but he lacked her experience.

The crimson-eyed woman drew her legs together and leaped off the wall. Flower petals erupted under her as she landed in a crouched behind Loz.

A slight smile crossed her lips as she started to move for the attack.

A blunt object slammed into her head and the world erupted into flashes of light.

_I shouldn't have left. _The thought rolled through Cloud's mind as he raced his way through the busy streets of Midgar desperately trying to get the church.

The moment he heard that Tifa had left he knew the voices were behind it. As he arrived in the city the few doubts he had vanished. He could feel the voice in the city. The closer he got to the church the stronger he felt there presence.

If he had called Tifa more often then she would have known there was something amiss. Why were they even going after Tifa? He tried his best not to think of the answer but it continued to haunt him. Jenova was getting at him through Tifa.

Or it could be something else. He had been away for a year Tifa could have come in contact with something that Jenova would have wanted. The possibility did not seem likely but he did not want to think that Jenova was after Tifa. The horrible things the creature might do to Tifa keep parading through his mind.

Some hero he turned out to be. He tried so hard to protect his friends from danger that he ended up placing them in more danger.

There was still time for Cloud to get there. He could feel in a very surreal way that the voices had not come to get what they wanted. Tifa was not weak. She was a trained martial artist. She could protect herself.

The argument sounded weak but it was all that was keeping him from breaking down. He had lead to all this. The answer to his problem was so simple that he had not even seen it in the first place. Even if he could save Tifa, she would hate him for how he had treated her this year.

Cloud's dark thoughts were pushed away as his vision flashed white. Pins and needs raced across his body till he could no longer feel it. _Not now_.

The white melted away not to the road but a brightly light ruin with yellow flowers growing everywhere. The church, Cloud thought in shock. He felt his arm moved distantly and he looked down. It was not his arm he was looking at but a thinner one with a tight black leather sleeve holding a very strange looking gun.

Cloud choked as he looked pasted the strange gun. Lying on the ground below him was the unconscious figure of Tifa. Unlike the vision with Sephiroth he could see that her chest was rising. She was alive he thought with some relief then he felt he grip on the trigger tighten.

_No,_ he could not shoot Tifa. Against his will his finger continued to tighten the trigger. He could feel the excitement of the kill racing through his mind. This was not real. He was on Fenrir coming to the church.

Despite his wishes, everything felt real. The bloodlust was nearly consuming as he looked over the fallen form of Tifa.

Disgust washed over Cloud in response to the bloodlust but he pushed the feeling away. He had to save Tifa. Using every once of his will he tried to move the gun. Nothing happened.

_Goodnight sweet angel,_ a voice purred in Cloud's mind. He was done with the foreplay now it was time for the kill.

**_No! _**Cloud screamed as panic ripped through his mind consuming all thought. Something happened. A new sensation of power washed over him whipping away the panic. Then everything went dark.

Cloud's mind felt raw as he opened his eyes looking around with confusion. The Fenrir was lying beside him on the ground.

Several people were looking down at him with surprised expression. They were saying things to him but Cloud's mind was having a difficult time processing anything but the pain in his mind and an ache that had started on his right side.

He seemed to have fallen off the Fenrir. How had it happened? The pain in his mind was making it very difficult for him to remember what had happened. He could remember going some were very important then white.

A flash of static filled his mind then he remembered everything. Tifa, if what he had just seen was true then they were trying to kill her.

With the thought of Tifa in trouble filling his head, Cloud stood up. He winced slightly realizing that his right side had been injured when he fell off Fenrir. It was not important. Tifa was in trouble.

He pushed through the crowd of onlookers to get to his motorcycle. A quick glance at his bike told him it was fine and he stood it up. There was still time for him to get to Tifa. There had to be.

"What do you think your doing?" Rage filled Loz's face as he shouted at his smaller companion. Yazoo ignored the man's rage knowing that explaining they had time restraints would be meaningless. The Lockhart woman was irrelevant. Irrelevant, he thought as he looked at he woman but still a threat.

She knew they were seeking the child that made her dangerous. Yazoo could feel their brother coming. With his current pace he would arrive soon and his knowing that information would affect the plan. _Beside_, he thought with a slight smirk, _the master wanted them to make their brother suffer_.

Raising the Velvet Nightmare to the woman he began wondering were he should shoot her. In the head, no that would be too quick. The liver was a better choice that way big brother would be able to see her die.

He looked up to see Loz was still glaring at him. "Why don't you make yourself useful and get the girl." The rasher man glared at him once more then turned on his heel heading to the pillar where the child was hidden.

This had all been rather easy. Yazoo did not seek out challenges like Loz but it would have been far more fun to see her struggle a bit more before he finished her.

There was still enough time to wake her up and hear her scream. That would be an enjoyable sound. Her voice had been very attractive when she had been talking. She would make a wonderful screamer.

He paused a moment imagining the sounds of her screams ringing out through the church. Torture in such a holy place, oh the irony.

Then again he really did not have time for that. A nice clean headshot would do the trick. If he could not enjoy seeing her have a slow death, why let big brother.

_Goodbye sweet Angel,_ then a loud buzz filled his mind. To his horror his hand acted against his will through the gun far away from him. A powerful presence entered his mind. He felt his will forced away leaving him an empty doll.

Then the presence left his mind. Yazoo sank to his knees panting slightly from the force of the presence. He had felt that once but only from the master. That had not been the master it had been too erratic and emotional. The master was anything but that.

He then looked down at the fallen form of Tifa Lockhart and his green eyes went wide. Had it been Cloud. The concept did not seem possible. There was no other logical course. The master had no reason to save this woman.

Fear coursed through him as the pulled himself to his feet reestablishing his mask. They had to leave here before Cloud arrived. If Cloud could do that to him from a distance, Yazoo could only imagine what he could do to either of them in person.

He picked up his gun quickly, not even looking in the fallen woman's direction. The silver haired gun marksman did not want to risk that invasion ever again.

"What's your problem?" Loz asked his eyes far more annoyed than curious. Under the big man's right arm was a squirming little girl. Yazoo walked pasted the other man trying to keep his fear hidden. "We're leaving."

It was not until he stepped into the warm sunlight outside the church that he realized his hands were trembling.

Cloud jumped of the Fenrir as he approach the steps of the church letting the motorcycle collapses on the ground, he did not even notice. He left his assortment of swords, knowing that he would not need them. After his blackout he could no longer feel the voice but something told him they were no longer in the church. His only hope was that they had left Tifa there as well.

"Tifa," he started screaming as the made his way up the steps. No one answered his cry but he continued. Tifa had to be there he could not have let her die.

The sweet scent of flowers greeted him pulling at a distant memory but he ignored it. Tifa was far more important then what his mind was trying to remember.

A soft moan came from the center of the room. Cloud made his way though the ruins not even remembering how, all that mattered was Tifa.

There she was lying on the ground just like in his vision. "Don't be dead," he pleaded as he knelt down beside her. She was still alive, he thought with a slight amount of relief but he could not find her injury.

He lifted in into his arms as if she were bubble that would break with the slightest pressure. Once again he had failed her. "I am so sorry." He whispered knowing that the words did not matter. How could she forgive him after this?

"Cloud," he looked down with surprise to see her crimson eyes looking up into his blue ones. A slight smile played on her lips as she looked at him. "Your late." Her voice sound surprisingly content, with that said she drifted back to sleep.

Cloud tightened his grip on her trying to think of what to do. The pain in his head had begun to return along with the ache running down his right side. Thinking clearly was becoming quite difficult for him.

He removed his hand from behind her head for a moment. Then froze as he saw a dark blood stand on his black glove.

A head injury, he carefully lifted her head to see the extent of her damage. He pulled her dark hair away to find a large knot forming on the back of her skull.

"Tifa." Picking her up had been the wrong thing to do. He could have made everything worse. That was what he did was not it made things worse.

He cradled her against him trying to remember if the hospital had been restored. Through the pain, he could remember one on the upper plates but nothing in the slums. There was a doctor in the slums was not there. Wait he'd moved had not he.

A flash of movement caused Cloud to look around. "Whose there?" He called out into the silences surrounding them.

There was no answer or any additional movements. It had been the first time he had actually looked at the church. This was the first time in two years.

It was just as beautiful as Tifa had told him all those times before back when he was to afraid to come. The few flowers Aeris had multiplied into thousands. _Aeris would love this_, he thought looking back at Tifa.

The broken boards tugged at his memory. This was where he fell after the second mission. When he had first learned Aeris name.

Strange, it did not seem to hurt as much as he imagined it would. It actually felt nice remembering this time with Aeris instead of that one time.

The scent of flowers remind him of the flower girl memories of their time together began dancing in his mind. A strange dizziness began to overcome him and he felt his eyes closing ever so slightly.

Tifa, he jerked back into awareness as he remembered his friend in his arms. He shook his head violently clearing his mind of the stray memories. _What in the world was wrong with him_? How could he fall asleep when Tifa need his help?

He stood up careful of her precious cargo and began heading towards the Fenrir. There might no longer be hospitals or doctors around but there were medical supplies back at the Seventh Heaven.

_Aeris brushed through Tifa's raven hair as she looked down at the sleeping woman. The injury her dark haired friend had sustained had not been fatal but it was still alarming. The young ancient knew what would happen, it still hurt to see her friend lying on the ground._

_The men had taken Marlene. Aeris was not worried Marlene would be safe for a time longer. When the girl was in true danger Cloud would be there to save her. _

_A frantic shouting filled the tranquil walls as the young hero made his way into the church. Tifa moaned slightly, his screams awaking her into a semblance of awareness. _

_He was by he side in an instant picking her up speaking to her gentle. Seeing the panic and fear in his eyes made Aeris wonder if he looked at her like that when she died. _

_Now was not the time for such frivolous thoughts she had her duty to accomplish._

_The young ancient reach out her hand touching Cloud gentle on the forehead. A slight barrier kept her from completely making contact with the young man. _

_It was just as she thought He was no longer able to maintain his hold on Cloud. She pushed her will against the barrier and she could feel it crumble against her. His energy was almost spent, she thought sadly. Soon He would merge with the life stream. May He find happiness there, she silently prayed._

_The barrier completely shattered. She felt herself falling into the alien realm of Cloud's thoughts. Gently, she began to guide Cloud's mind into a state she could speak to him._

_Tifa, Cloud pulled away from as his desire to save Tifa broke off the contact. Aeris smiled as she watch him carry Tifa out of the church. The martial artist would be blushing horrible if she know what was happening. _

_Once Cloud was able to get Tifa to a safe place Aeris would attempt to establish contact again._

Cloud stumbled into the Seventh Heaven surprised at how quiet everything was. None of the children were running around like tiny mad men trying to attack him.

The sound of tiny cheers reached him. With a smile he realized they were watching that movie. His attention turned back to Tifa who appeared to be in a deep sleep. Her unconsciousness troubled him greatly. The limited medical knowledge he had told him that people falling a sleep with head injury was bad news. During the ride here he had attempted to awaken her but nothing work.

If he remembered correctly Tifa keep the medical supplies in the kitchen. He started in that direction when a thick dizziness ran though his mind. Just like at the church.

The sweet smell of flowers seemed to surround him as he stood there. His feet began moving up the stair. It felt as though someone was guiding him there.

He was not afraid. This did not feel like Jenova ripping through his mind it felt peaceful.

After trailing up the stairs he came to a door, it seemed familiar but his mind was to daze to remember exactly were it lead.

The door was slightly ajar so he pushed it open with his foot. Walking into the room seemed to make him very drowsy.

A bed was lying in the middle of the room looking like it was just waiting for them. Cloud walked towards it practical collapsing on it with Tifa still in his arms.

Lying there the sweet smell of flowers drew him away into a comfortable darkness.


	3. Revelation

Disclaimer: Advent Children is owned by Square-something. This is a non-profit work only for entertainment purposes.

Chapter Three

Revelation

Hanging sideways on the Seventh Heaven's large oak door was a nice quaint closed sign. The tall red-haired man reading the sign cursed loud and kicked the door for good measures.

"Why is it that the only bar that's half decent in this freaking city is closed on our day off?" His tall stalwart companion adjusted his shades, something that could be mistaken for a frown forming on his face.

"Where's Tifa?" His smaller companion glared up at him with irritation. "I don't know maybe she's off washing her hair like Elena does when we actually need her." The dark man's answer to the sarcastic comment was to turn away and stalk down the street.

The red hair man realizing his mistake cursed again. The he started chasing his friend down the street.

"Rude I am... sure Elena's going to be ok." Rude had not gotten very far ahead of his red-haired friend but still did not respond to him. "Sure getting incapacitated by a child's disease is unbecoming of a Turk but even she wouldn't humiliate us by actually dying from it."

Reno was lying through his teeth. Rude seemed to buy it. At least he lessoned his pace so Reno did not have to power walk to keep up with him.

Being a realist Reno had a firm belief Elena was going to die. Some how the loud mouth twit had not only contracted a child's disease but had developed the worse know case of it. The doctors did not think she would last the month.

Before last week Reno and been on the same page as Rude. He had been helping the quiet man check out any potential leads to what might be causing the disease. Even went they found absolute nothing he still thought there might be something.

To him it looked like someone had deliberately started this crazy disease. All they would have to do was ask around until they found the mad genius then beat the cure out of him.

In away he was right. Reeve's animal friend had sent over information about the cause of Geostigma. The big bad guy in this was the Planet. Something was taking the planet's energy it need to heal from Meteor so the Planet started taking energy from people.

Really nice of it, seeing how people saved the Planet from Sephiroth and Meteor. The great Planet loving sages had not even been able to figure out what was causing the block. Quite a few of them thought it was just a natural part of the Planet's cycle.

Reno snorted, they probably though this was a great learning experience. Good thing for them they were all so old they were expecting their friends to keel over.

Because of the stupid Planet Reno was going to loss a Turk. There were only three of them left after Meteor. The organization just was need anymore. Rude probably drag him there to watch her die too. That was not something the red haired Turk wanted to experience.

The worse thing was that they would not be able to fight against the Planet. If they injured it, what would stop it from just taking more energy? It was the ultimate no win situation. Too bad AVALANCHE was not around anymore to try and fix this.

A loud murmuring began to content with Reno's thinking. Annoyed, the Turk looked up ready to shout at the noisemakers for disturbing him. To his surprise it was not a handful of punks but the entire street.

From where he and Rude were standing it seemed that the whole population of the slums had gathered in a large crowd. This was more like it Reno thought a nice big riot would be a great way to work his tension out.

Much to his disappointment the crowd began to disburse as they approached. There were not any bodies lying around. At least, Reno had not missed anything fun.

It was strange to see a crowd like that in Midgar. Life had gotten rather boring in Midgar, since Meteor, people trying to survive and all that.

Reno grabbed a passerby by a thick arm and spun the man around. The man was a large fat man with balding hair and tiny beady eyes, reminding Reno of the Palmer. The man straightened himself with an annoyed huff but when he looked up to tell them off he went white.

"Turks," the man stuttered looking around the crowd for help. Reno enjoying the effect he was having on the man. He leaned against the man in a friendly matter. The man looked up to see Reno giving him a predatorily smile.

"My friend and I are curious about what just happened." Reno kept his voice light and friendly as he asked the question. "Some punk freaked out on his cycle and crashed." The man was shaking violently now trying his best to keep away from the Turk without moving.

As much as Reno was enjoy terrifying the man he did have other things on his mind. "So a big huge crowd formed over some punk kid." Reno knew as well as the man did it would take more than that to get people to bait an eye.

The man swallowed, "some of the people thought he looked like that world savior, Cloud Strife." Reno and Rude's shades exchanged a long look. Cloud coming back to town would explain why the Seventh Heaven was closed.

The great hero had been missing for what a year now. Reno was curious to discover what would have brought him out of hiding.

"Which way did this guy go?" The trembling man pointed straight ahead. Getting what he wanted Reno pushed the terrified man away. "What do you think Rude?"

There was not much in the direction the fat man had been pointing. The upper plate had collapsed crushing the sector. Gang punks did not even hang out in that sector.

The silent Turk nodded. Reno shrugged as he started walking down the road.

"Why would Strife be coming down here?" Reno asked as they made their way through the mess the fallen plated had created. Some of the rubble was as large as houses.

A small footpath had been made through the mess. It had to be man made, the plate could not have fallen that perfectly.

"The church." Rude said as he made his way effortlessly through the mess. "What are you talking about?" Reno looked at Rude's direction in confusion. What had Rude been doing down here in the first place? Rude shrugged and continued forward.

That had annoyed Reno. He told Rude everything, since when did Rude decide to keep secrets. The anger rant Reno planed on shouting stopped dead in his throat as he saw something chrome flashing in the distances.

"Yo, Rude I see something." A pair of very expensive looking motorcycles had been hidden in a small cove of what could have been a house. It was hard to tell now. A large chunk of the upper plate had crushed it.

Reno crouched down to examine the pair of bikes. Not only were these beauties expensive but they had also been well cared for. "This things don't belong." Rude had stood beside him. It could have been because he was curious or that he just liked the spot.

"That punk could have been Cloud. His the only person I knew that would have enough money to have one of these and bring it into the slum." There was not a response from Rude but Reno had not really expected one. "Wonder what his doing?"

Reno looked up at Rude. "I guess you think it has something to do with Geostigma." The silent Turk nodded.

That sort of made sense, Reno reasoned. Cloud had disappeared right after Geostigma started maybe he found out something. Why come here though, something was not adding up.

Rude pushed Reno over knocking the red haired Turk to collapse on the ground. Just as quickly the darker man leap backwards. Reno started a moment in confusion trying to decide exactly how to act upon his displeasure. A bullet went flying right through the spot where his had had been. That shut the Turk up.

Leaping to his feet, Reno drew the electro-rod out of its hiding place. He turned to see who was stupid enough to try and kill one of the Turks.

His eyes widen with surprise as he saw two young men that looked strikingly like the late general Sephiroth. Under the arm of the large one was a tiny struggling child. The kid looked very familiar. She was one of Tifa's brats.

"Let the girl go." Reno glanced at Rude with surprise. Why did he care about some brat? The larger Turk was in his battle stance. He looks angry, Reno thought in amazement.

Reno turned back to the young men giving them a wide smile. "You heard my partner hand the girl over."

The tall muscular one sneered at Reno with arrogance and bloodlust glittering in his eyes. "Why don't you come and get her?" Neither of the two Turks looked at each out but years of working together gave them all the response they need.

Reno sprinted forwards activating his rod, planning on bring it down on the longhaired man.

The silent man in shades stood in an attack position waiting for something. Loz frowned in anger, was this man trying to insult him like the Lockhart woman. Making him come to the man and not the other way around. A small child could see that Loz was the superior opponent in this brawl.

A child, Loz had forgotten the struggling girl under his arms. The man must be waiting for him to get rid of the girl.

Loz smirked at the man. He would give the man exactly what he wanted. Using the least amount of his strength, the silver haired man sent Marlene flying into a collapsed wall. The tiny brat did not even have a chance to scream before her frail body slammed into the wall.

That would keep her from struggling. He idle wondered if she had actually lived through the blow. Her tiny body would not be able to handle much damage. It was not like it mattered if she lived or not. The master had more than enough children now.

A flash of movement crossed the edge of his sense. Loz dodged the dark man's punch to his face without any effort. The Lockhart woman had been far faster. Thinking of the dark haired woman sent a spark of rage through Loz's mind.

With fury blazing in his mind Loz slammed his fist into the dark man's jaw. That should put the silent man under. Loz could then take out Yahoo's opponent as payback.

The dark man stumbled back but keep on his feet. To Loz's chagrin, the man looked up ready for more. The pair of shades had stayed on his face.

Loz growled in anger at the man's resilience. How dare he survive that? The man tried to strike that Loz again. Using his inhuman speed Loz caught the man's wrist. He planned on breaking the dark man's arm, but then he saw where Yazoo's opponent was.

A perfect shot. Loz twisted his wrist activating the Duel Hound. Bright blue flames danced over his arm burning the air. A look of surprise crossed over the dark man's face. Loz smirked at the expression as he slammed the Duel Hound into the man's body.

Reno brought down the crackling electro-rod on the silver haired punk's head, only to find that he had moved. How had he moved like that? These guys seemed to be more than just Sephiroth fan boys.

A sound came from behind Reno, causing the Turk to spin around. He had moved fast enough to see the man raise his strange gun and pull the trigger.

"Hey," Reno shouted as the electro-rod went flying out of his hands. The silver haired man appeared in front of the rod smirking at Reno. Trying to play with a Turk was he.

Reno spring towards the man and attempted to kick him. Quick as lighting the man swayed back only an inch from Reno's foot. Green mako eyes glittered in a sadistic amusement. "Your not very fast." His knee slammed into Reno's chest.

The air went rushing out of the redhead's lungs. He collapsed to the ground coughing weakly. People could move that fast it just was not possible even with mako.

A metallic glitter pulled Reno's attention back the silver haired man. The man's bulky gun was point right at Reno's face. "I was expecting a little more out of a Turk." The man leered down at Reno, the green eyes filled with blood lust.

Reno coughed weakly as he tried to say a comeback of any type. The words got stuck in his throat as he realized that he was going to die. The man's feature had frozen into an impassionate face. With the exception of the blood lust glowing brighter than the mako.

Here, he thought Elena was the next one to go. It would make her feel better knowing that she beat him out. _Sorry, Rude._

A miracle happened. The man's icy mask broke as horror danced across his face. He took a step backwards staring at Reno with pure terror.

_What_? Reno was not in a position to cause that kind of terror. From the man's expression a moment before it did not seem like he would shy away from killing.

Any further thoughts of the man's strange behavior were cut off as a huge projectile went hurling into Reno. The force of the projectile sent Reno and it flying across the rubble covered ground. They punched right through an abandoned wall.

The momentum, finally, ended leaving Reno lying painfully on the ground entangled in the projectile. The sound of motorcycles staring up in the distance brought Reno to his sense. He tried to push the large weight off his body but the thing was to heavy for him. A black suit-wearing thing, Reno blinked with surprise as he realized who was on top of him.

"Rude get up. They're getting away." He could hear the motorcycles pulling away now. Angry at thought of losing the two men Reno started trying to kick Rude into awareness.

"Come on Rude you can't be unconscious." A sigh escaped Reno's lips as he realized that the two men had gotten away. "How can you even be hurt? Your glasses are fine." The redhead Turk took another glance at his groaning partner's shades. They were not even scratched. A very important question entered the Turk's mind. "What are those thing made of?"

Cloud had never seen a place like this before in all his travels. Flowers stretched out as far as he could see even with his mako enhancements. They where yellow flowers that reminded him of the ones Aeris had grown at the church.

Was this a dream? Cloud had not dreamed in a very long time. His nights had been haunted by gruesome nightmares.

This place did not feel like it had been created by his mind. A quiet tranquility filled the air making it very difficult to feel anything but peace. There was something else to hovering in the air, a feeling of waiting, of incompletion.

"That's right Cloud this is we're those who haven't fulfilled their purpose stay." That voice, so sweet and cheerful, it could not be. Cloud turned around fear and guilt began swarming though his soul.

Standing with her back towards him was a very familiar woman in a pink dress, with her chestnut hair in a thick, long braid. "Aeris." His voice came out as a whisper. It just was not possible. Not once in two year had he seen the flower girl, even in his nightmares he never saw her. This was going to turn into a new type of nightmare, was not it?

"Cloud your acting so silly." The woman turned around her eyes sparkling, her lips turned up into a smile. Cloud stumbled backwards overwhelmed by everything. She looked just as he remembered her. Just as she had when Sephiroth had stabbed her in the back. Her smile, it was the same.

Cloud shook his head trying to reason clearly. The person could not be Aeris. He never saw Aeris. If she were Aeris, what would she say to him for failing as her bodyguard, as a friend?

Aeris moved her small hands gripping them lightly on his shoulders to stabilize her friend. "There is nothing to say Cloud." She gave Cloud a reassuring smile. Cloud moved his own hands placing them over her smaller ones. They were warm almost like she was alive again.

The green of her eyes pulsed with as much warm and life as they had went he last saw her. This was Aeris.

"How is this possible?" No matter how much he wanted to meet her he know it was impossible. She looked up into his eyes giving him a mischievous smile. "It's just as I said a place where those who haven't fulfilled their purpose stay. Like Limbo."

Cloud nodded in understanding even though he was still confused. "How can I be here?" No memories of dying had come to his mind. "I summoned you here. There is something I need to tell you. Actually several things."

"There is something I need to tell you to." Cloud's throat went dry as he stared into her emerald eyes. All her attention was focused directly on him.

"I am pleased to meet you. I am Cloud Strife." That had not come out exactly as he thought it should have. He looked away from the woman feeling his face burn with embarrassment. All this time he had dreamed of meeting her as himself but he had never thought of what to say if he did.

She giggled softly not mocking him but in a gentle amusement. "I am pleased to meet you too. I would like to see your face so I'll be able to remember you." He turned to face her, his face still burning with shame.

In a comical manor she stood on her toes to examine his face. A slight smile started forming on his lips as she narrowed her green eyes. The first attempt at a smile he had since leaving the Seventh Heaven.

She lowered herself back down keeping her eyes on his face. "Yes, I think I'll be able to remember you." The small smile broke out into a full-fledged smile. A heavy weight had been lifted off Cloud's chest. He had final been able to meet her as himself and she had forgiven him.

Something was missing. Cloud was not sure what it was but it began tugging at the back of his mind.

"Why are you here? Should not you be in the promise land." The little nagging feeling would not disappear but it was pushed aside as sorrow crossed Aeris face. Cloud tightened his grip on her hands to lend her strength.

"I can't go to the resting place of the Certa until my destiny is fulfilled." She looked away from Cloud to gaze out over the endless field of flowers. "My mother has final found peace there."

"How can that be?" Confusion laced with anger swirled through Cloud as he stared at her profile. "You saved the world from Meteor. You gave you..." He could not finish the statement for that hurt had not been completely washed away.

"That was not all of my destiny. As the last of the Certra I was destined to destroy Jenova." Jenova, the word sent a chill through Cloud. Aeris did not seem to notices as she continued her sad tale.

"The Planet is dying." Cloud almost spoke is disbelief out loud but she silenced him with a shake of her head. "You have seen the signs yourself. Geostigma is the Planet's last attempt to save itself from injure. It takes energy from those who have the closes ties to it in order to survive.

"Because children have just began life they still have a close connection to the Planet." How could the Planet do that to children? The effects of Geostigma were horrible. Cloud had seen first hand when taking care of Denzul. Had the Planet became another Shinra?

"Don't hate the Planet Cloud. It doesn't have any other options for its survival. Meteor gravely injured the Planet even after all our efforts to protect it.

"The Planet began healing itself using the energy that rests in the left stream but Jenova began tapping into the energy. It was able to use the Planet's energy to grant itself power. That is why you began filling the call when Geostigma began."

This was his fault again. He should have realized what was happening to him instead of running away and hiding like a coward. People would be getting hurt if he had been thinking rationally. Tifa would not have been hurt.

"Aeris, why did Jenova have Tifa attack?" "That is part of what else I need to tell you.

"With the destruction of the Certra the planet has begun blessing humans with special energy. So they can protect the Planet. Most of them are only children.

"Marlene is one of them." Marlene would have been with Tifa. Tifa most have tried to protect the girl from being taken by the enemy. "Why? Why does Jenova need the children?"

Aeris looked back at Cloud her beautiful eyes glittering with sorrow. "You know the answer to that Cloud." An uncomfortable confusion settled on Cloud. He was a failure again. Nothing he could think of explained why Jenova would want those children.

The look Aeris gave him kept him from speaking. "I don't have time to explain it, you'll figure it out for yourself." Cloud nodded even though he was not sure that he believed the last part.

"Cloud there is something I have to ask of you." The sorrow seemed to fade away but her tone was still serious. Cloud took Aeris hands off her arms and held them tightly in front of him. "I'll do what ever you want." She smiled brightly at that. Her eyes were sparking with humor. "I know you'll be able to kill Jenova's physical form but to kill her mental form you most do something that will be very hard for you."

Cloud pulled her hands towards him. "I'll do what ever it takes to kill that monster. To save the children and free you from here." The woman blushed at Cloud's fervent tone like a schoolgirl. Her reaction puzzled Cloud but he meant every word.

"I need you to-"

"Cloud," the young man tensed then turned his head wildly trying to see the speaker of the voice. That voice it sounded like Zack. Was he here along with Aeris?

"Zack." Cloud called out trying to find where his old friend was calling. The world around him began to fade away into darkness. Aeris hands seemed to fade out of his hands.

"Cloud wake up." Zack's voice was a command, one Cloud felt himself obeying. Aeris was shouting something at him but she was to far away for him to hear her.

In his fuzzy half awake state he realized what had been nagging him. Tifa had wanted to meet Aeris with him. How could he have forgotten that?

_To Aeris horror, Cloud had faded out of her world without hearing how to defeat Jenova. There was a soft laughter from behind her, Him. She should not have been surprised he had been able to come here. He was a spirit after all. The only place that He could not go was the promise land. _

_When she felt Him depart from Cloud, she had thought he had final been forced to reunite with the life stream. He had let her talk to Cloud as long as it was beneficial for Him. She had fallen for His trap._

"_Thanks Aeris." After He spoke He disappeared for her world. Aeris sank to her knees fresh tears streaming through her eyes. With him gone her world seemed so lonely now. Why did He keep doing to this to her? Did not he care able the Planet, about Cloud? He had changed so much she could not even think of Him by His name._

_She looked over the empty flower fields. How would her knight save her now?_

"Is that Aunt Tifa's lover?" Lover, Cloud wondered why the kids where in here interrupting his sleep. There was a moment of silence. Giving Cloud the chance to fall back into the dark allure of sleep. "No I think their married."

Another tiny loud voice jarred him from his sleep. Why could not they leave him alone? His head ached terrible, he need whatever sleep he could get. "I don't think their married." It would take to much effort to scare them off. They would leave when they realized he did not want to play.

"Don't they have to be married, isn't Marlene their daughter." Cloud had discovered something soft, warm, and terrible comforting lying in his arm. "You don't have to be married to have a kid." A gasp of horror ran through the room. Cloud pulled the thing tighter against him enjoys the feeling of how close it was.

"I thought Marlene was that big black guy's daughter." What was this, Cloud wondered as he felt something silky touch his nose.

"No way his never here." The silky substances felt wonderful and Cloud buried his face into it. It smelt just like Tifa. "And he is." This was all beginning to remind him vague of something Zack had told him about a very long time ago.

"Aunt Tifa said they were just friends." Tifa, had not he brought her up stairs then he had that dream. Cloud snapped awake as he realized what he was clinging to.

At least ten children had jammed themselves in Tifa's room. Every one of them was looking at him with expecting looks on their tiny innocent faces. They were just kids, they would jump to any conclusion. Tifa would never find out about this.

Heat began rising in his cheeks as they just keep staring at him. A tiny little girl with doe eyes walked up to him. "Mr. Cloud."

"Yes," Cloud choked out as he just stared at her as he angel of doom. "Are you and Aunt Tifa lover?" His face flushed completely and he turned away from all the accusing eyes. Tifa was going to kill him. "They are lovers." The child shouted with excitement. Several of the other children began to add their cries in.

This could not be happening. Cloud had not even had a lover before. "No were not lovers. Tifa just got hurt." The little girl who asked him the question in the first place nodded in a very unbelieving way. His statement did cause most of the children to calm down enough that he was able to calm down.

During all the shouting Tifa had not woken up at all. He should have asked Aeris if she could have helped Tifa instead of thinking of himself. Gentle, he moved Tifa into a more comfortable position.

He pulled her gloves and boots off giving them to one of the children to put up. They had become very solemn as he looked over Tifa.

With the help of one of the older children he was able to pull the sheet over her body. He sat on he bed playing with her hair trying to decide what to do.

Tifa would not be awakening any time soon. Physical she seemed all right except the bump on her head. It did not look like her injure was going to cause permanent damage. He did not want to leave her hear alone though.

A conflict began forming in his mind as he stared at her. The Planet was in trouble, he had to save it, but Tifa was hurt. She had done so much for him he could not just leave her all alone. Saving the Planet would be protecting Tifa as well.

There was also Jenova. He could feel her tugging on his soul trying to make him go to her. Staying her would allow her more time for her to affect his mind. He could end up hurting Tifa.

A tiny tug at his sleeve brought him back to the room. It was one of the new children. The boy was moving on his feet with nervous energy. "We could take care of Aunt Tifa. She taught us lots of stuff so we can take could of Denzel." Cloud nodded to the boy and looked back at Tifa's sleeping form. That would be the best idea. If there were any problems they could call Barrett or Cid.

The boy smiled up at him, with hope in his eyes. "Sure, could you give us a moment?" All the children nodded and began to file out of the room.

"I am sorry Tifa. I'll bring Marlene back for you." Cloud leaned over and kissed Tifa tenderly on the forehead. "I am sorry for everything." His whispered to her still form as he broke the kiss. There were other things he wanted to say to her, his chest ached from them. He could not say anymore, so many broken promises.

Cloud stood up feeling very sober as he started at her. It seemed like an eternity before he stared moving towards the door.

This time he would have to fight alone. His friends had there own happy lives now. Taking them would just put them endanger. He might hurt them if they went with him. Tifa might not understand but she would not be able to find him.

At the door stood another child he did not recognize. How many more orphans had Tifa adopted while he was gone? "Mr. Cloud we came up to Aunt Tifa's room to tell her Uncle Rude and some crazy guy wanted to speak with her."

Uncle Rude, Cloud frown wondering why she was calling a Turk her uncle. It was not his place to say anything he had not been here for a year.

"I'll talk to them." The child nodded and disappeared down the hallway. Cloud took a deep breath not wanting to talk to the Turks at the moment but he did not want them here with Tifa.

After he chased them off he would start tracing down the voices. He could feel them now in the distance speed away from Midgar to... Cloud shook his head.

The living room of the Seventh Heaven was very comfortable. Happy pictures covered the wall giving the room a very warm feeling. Reno barely noticed the room as he stared at his partner.

Rude was surround by a swarm of children who were talking to him in a very animated fashion. It was not just that they were talking to Rude but he was talking back to them.

A tiny little girl yanked on Rude's pants leg. "Can I see you eyes?" Reno snorted. Rude did not take his shades off for any one. Much to the red haired Turk's surprise Rude knelt down in front of the child and removed the shades. That was not possible. Rude never took off his shades it went against all that was Rude.

Reno was not sure if he was shock or angry at the development. As he continued watching Rude play with the children he settled on angry. Rude had developed this completely secret life behind his back. What annoyed him more was trying to figure out how he had miss all this. The children seemed to know Rude very well.

"How do you know all his brats?" One of the brat girls stuck her tongue out at him. Reno smiled at her and stuck his right back at her. She got all huffy and stormed out of the room. He always had take effect on woman.

"I help out some times." The anger started intensifying in Reno with the response. "You help out some times is that why everyone here calls you Uncle?"

Rude answered the accusation by looking helpless. One of the children decided to answer for him. "Uncle Rude comes over when Aunt Tifa can't take up to plant flowers."

"Flowers!" Reno could not believe this. Just because they were not doing there normal work did not mean that Rude could go soft like this. "I can't believe. Your watching stupid children while I've been working." This was crazy. The only hope Reno had was that if he kept yelling it just would not be true. Rude soft.

A little girl walked over to Rude shyly and offered him a makeshift card. "We made that for Aunt Elena." Rude smiled at the girl and accepted the card graciously.

Reno glared at Rude until he realized what the child had said. Aunt Elena. Was that loud mouth running around here too? She was the softest member of the group in the first place now she was even softer. What was wrong with them?

"I can't believe you taking Elena behind my back to make her soft." Rude moved away from the children to stand by Reno. The red head leaned against the wall sullenly.

"Just because your afraid of going soft does not mean anyone else is." Reno's face went red as he turned to Rude. "I am not afraid of going soft because I am not soft." Rude put his hands up.

"Just saying we can do more now." Reno snorted and started at the ground. When was Tifa coming? He had to get out of this madness before it started affecting him.

"Want to hear who's here?" Reno scowled at the ground, "sure tell me what your fan club told you."

Rude actually had the nerve to laugh before he answered. "Apparently Tifa's up stairs sleeping with her "lover" who sounds a lot like Cloud."

Reno choked as he heard the last part. Cloud a lover, Reno could not imagine at all. Was not the spiky haired punk afraid of woman?

"Right." Rude nodded sagely as he adjusted his shades. At least he put those back on. Seeing Rude without them had really shaken Reno.

"What are you doing here?" This was the first time Reno would have ever been glad to hear the voice of Cloud Strife.

The blond was standing at the top of the stairs glaring down at the pair. Reno pushed off the wall smirking at Cloud not even flinching as his glare intensified. "We were here to ask about your new friends." The mercenary regarded Reno with a blank look in his glowing blue eyes.

"Two tall guys, silver hair green eyes. They seem to have a thing for back leather sound familiar." A thoughtful looked crossed Strife's face. His eyes brightened as he realized something. "I haven't seen them."

What a poor lie, if there were Sephiroth wannabes running about Cloud Strife would know about them. "Then who gave you that?" Reno pointed the large black bruise stretching around Cloud's neck. It looked like someone had tried to strange Cloud.

Cloud went a very unusual shade of pale. Almost in slow motion Cloud raised a glove hand to his throat. "No one did this." His voice came out very softly, like he was talking to himself. Wow, Cloud was crazier than last time they ran into him. Those years with Hojo must be catching up with the kid.

"What you did it to yourself?" Much to Reno's surprise Cloud turned even paler. He actually looked like he might faint. "No. Now leave." His temper snapped back rather quickly. "Were not leaving until we find out who they are."

Cloud started down the stairs anger flaring around him. "Come one we have every right to know who they are." Reno shouted at Cloud when he stopped in front of them.

"Leave!" Cloud pulled himself to his full height in an attempt to look Reno directly in the eye. The tall Turk almost laughed if not for the look in those mako eyes. A shiver went through Reno. He was not going to back down no matter now crazy Cloud looked.

"I don't think." Rude wrapped on strong arm around Reno's neck placing him in a headlock. "Hey!"

"We're leaving." Reno tried to struggle against Rude but soon found himself out side the Seventh Heaven. Once they were outside Rude dropped Reno on the ground. "What are you thinking?"

"Sorry Reno just going soft. I was not in the mood to watch Strife rip you into shreds." Reno adjusted his coat as he straightened himself out. "I doubt that Cloud is a goodie-goodie."

Rude merely shrugged as he pulled out his cell phone. With a sigh of aspiration Reno took the cell phone. He glared at Rude, who looked smug, as he dialed in Reeve's number. "We'll talk about this latter."

The phone started ringing pulling his attention away from his smirking friend. "Reno you're on time off why are you calling me?" The President sound like he was about to have a nervous break down. No surprise there, Shinra was practically falling apart. Not that Reno cared as long as he was paid.

"We ran into some interesting people and it lead to Cloud Strife." Over the phone he could hear Reeve fall out of his chair. "What Cloud his alive?" Reno shook his head in embarrassment for the President. "No we saw his ghost. Listen some weird stuffs been happening and it looks like your friend Cloud is going crazy. We need an ok to follow him."

There was a long pause on the other end. Reno rolled his eyes as he waited for his employer. Why was Reeve taking his time on this? "Both of you get back here." The Turk partially choked at the unexpected response.

"I know he's a friend of your but he knows something." _Something that might have to do with Elena's condition_, Reno did not say the last part. He was not going soft.

"Trust me we'll hear something soon." Reno slammed down the receiver in frustration. Rude just started walking back to H.Q. How did he know?


	4. One More Unusual Visitor

Disclaimer: Advent Children is owned by Square-something. This is a non-profit work only for entertainment purposes.

Chapter 4

One More Unusual Visitor

The earlier excitement that swept the Seventh Heaven had final died down. Most of the children had returned to the makeshift den to watch cartoons. Aunt Tifa was being tend by Mary Anne the second oldest since Marlene was missing.

Denzul sat in the living room bored out of his young mind. A dull ache ran through his small body an after effect of his spell. He barely noticed the ache any more and at the moment his mind was focused on other things.

During his short spell he had missed Mr. Cloud getting into a fight with some crazy guy. The details Denzul had gotten from his fellow children were exaggerated beyond reason. Making the boy feel like he missed more than he actually had. He was spending his recovery time imagining what he had missed.

Right now he could see Mr. Cloud confronting the crazy red haired man who had taken Uncle Rude hostage. He wondered how Uncle Rude had gotten captured.

Uncle Rude was really tough not as tough as Aunt Tifa. He was really cool too. One time at the church he took on an entire street gang.

The crazy man must have been really powerful. Denzul bet he breathed fire just like General Sephiroth. They could have been brothers or something.

Oh yeah, it had to be like a crazy rematch for Mr. Cloud. Like the shows Aunt Tifa did not let them watch with all the crazy families. People coming back from the dead all sorts of cool stuff like that. That was where Mary Anne learned about lovers and stuff like that.

This was so exciting. When Marlene got back he would tell her about everything.

That thought reminded him that Marlene was missing. The last time he had seen her, she had been leaving with Aunt Tifa. Uncle Cloud brought Tifa back a while ago with out Marlene.

Denzul had not actually understood how Mr. Cloud brought Aunt Tifa back. All the girls had been going on about love and stuff like that. Mary Anne kept saying that Mr. Cloud and Aunt Tifa were lovers. Whatever that was.

Of course, he did not believe them. Mr. Cloud was cool. Love was as icky like girls. Therefore Mr. Cloud obviously had nothing to do with love. Girls were just silly.

His mind moved back to the mystery of Marlene. The other children were sure that Marlene had not returned with Aunt Tifa. That was something Denzel believed. Marlene would have come into his room and fussed over him if she had been there. It would have been so embarrassing.

Marlene could still be at the church. No, that was not possible, Aunt Tifa never let them stay at the church alone.

An exciting idea began forming in Denzul's mind. The crazy man had to have attacked Aunt Tifa, Uncle Rude, and Marlene at the church when they were going to see Mr. Cloud.

Denzel could not think of a reason for Uncle Rude to be there but he bet it was cool. Every thing Uncle Rude did was cool. He said that was what being a Turk was able. Yea, the boy thought with excitement. Maybe he was there to protect Aunt Tifa like a knight or something.

All the stories Aunt Tifa told were about being rescued by knights. The knight in the story looked more like Mr. Cloud than Uncle Rude though. His busy mind raced back to more important things.

Then the crazy man must have shone up and attacked them. There would have been a huge fight just like in the movies. Lost of action and stuff blowing up.

The crazy man would have realized he could not beat Aunt Tifa and Uncle Rude so he grabbed Marlene. Aunt Tifa stayed to meet with Mr. Cloud. She was tough but she was a girl that was something they did.

Being a man and a Turk Uncle Rude would have went after he crazy man to save Marlene. The crazy man was cunning so he would have set an ambush.

Marlene had been kidnapped, he realized with terror. Sure she was just a girl but they were friends. Denzel started getting worried as he continued thinking about what happened.

The crazy man sounded really dangerous. Not only could he breath fire but he was really cunning. Denzel bet he dragged Uncle Rude here to gloat to Mr. Cloud like a real villain.

That must have been why Uncle Cloud ran off so fast. He was going to save Marlene.

There was a sharp knock on the door. Denzel jumped out of his thought with surprise. No one ever knock at the living room door. The only time it happened Aunt Tifa beat up the man who did it. Saying that he was a pervert. She was really mad about it even though Denzel could not figure out why.

Looking around the boy found the room completely empty. The knocking continued. It sounded really irritated.

Aunt Tifa did not want them opening the door no matter what. They were supposed to get Aunt Tifa but she was sick. Denzel knew she would get mad at him for opening the door. Someone important could be knocking.

Mr. Cloud must have defeated the crazy man and rescued Uncle Rude and Marlene. He was knocking because he was holding them. The crazy man most has knocked them out to make Mr. Cloud have to carry them home. What a cool villain.

Another knock came and he gleefully jumped to his feet. Racing to the door he thought about all the questions he would ask Mr. Cloud.

Smiling brightly he opened the door. A gasp escaped him as he looked at a man that was not Mr. Cloud.

The man standing at the door was tall and wearing all red. He had a creepy face that did not have any type of expression on it. Red eyes real red eyes not like Aunt Tifa's stared down at him.

Intimidated the little boy swallowed as he stared up at the creepy man. Denzel and seen a lot of movies and read a lot of comics. This man was the creepiest man he and ever seen in his life.

"Is Tifa here?" The man's voice was just as expressionless as the man's face. A long pause began as Denzel stared up at the man trying to decide what to think of him.

The creep man looked like a villain from those dark comics the older boys read when Aunt Tifa was not looking. He looked like the kind of villain that sucked the blood out of their enemies. This was so awesome.

"Yes sir." Denzel said with excitement as he continued staring up at the creepy man. Just wait till the other kids heard about this. This villain was way cooler than the crazy man and Denzel was the only one who was getting to talk to him. The other boys were going to be so jealous.

The man stood there for a long time looking at Denzel with his cool red eyes. After a few moments pasted Denzel wondered if the man was trying to read his mind. That was even cooler. Mind reading villains were always cool just like Sephiroth.

"Can I speak to Tifa?" The man final asked after the long silence. Denzel nodded his head energetically at the creepy man. If he was here to fight Aunt Tifa, he was going to get his butt kicked.

All this excitement had driven the after effects of his spell away. Then he realized Aunt Tifa had gotten sick or something. Not sick like him but she could not see anyone right now. Not even cool creep villains.

Dejected the boy shook his head. "Sorry, Aunt Tifa's sick she can't talk to anyone." The man did not seem surprised or anything. Oh yeah, he read Denzel's mind he would have know that Aunt Tifa was sick.

"Is Cloud here?" Excitement filled Denzel's body as he realized that the creepy man was a minion of the crazy man. The cunning crazy man sent him to have a cool duel with Mr. Cloud.

"No." The man actually looked annoyed as he glaring down at Denzel with his red eyes. The child was not worried at all. No matter what Aunt Tifa would beat up anyone that tried to mess with him. Besides the creepy man was looking for Mr. Cloud.

"Where did Cloud go?" The crazy man did not tell his minion how he came here to gloat at Mr. Cloud. Now Denzel understood. The creep man was not the crazy man's minion. He had to be the crazy man's rival. They were competing to kill Mr. Cloud.

That was even cooler. Mr. Cloud would have two fight them both at the same time as he carried around Uncle Rude and Marlene. Mr. Cloud was so cool.

"Mr. Cloud went to save Marlene from the crazy man." The man turned away without saying another word to Denzel. Denzel had meet one of those cool villains who did not talk to anyone unless they were an enemy.

Impressed with the creep man Denzel watched him walk into the crowded streets. Then the creepy man just disappeared. This was the coolest villain of all times and Denzel had actually gotten to talk to him in person.

Aunt Tifa would want to know about the creep man. Being a girl she would want to know about the creep man so she could warn Mr. Cloud. Not that Mr. Cloud needed warnings.

Turning towards the stairs, Denzel began to run. In his excitement the boy had completely forgotten that Aunt Tifa was sick.

Tifa opened her eyes slowly. A horrible pounding headache beat in her mind like a mad drum. She sat up slowly trying not to increase the pain in her mind.

Looking around her room left her feeling very puzzled. Sunlight was drifting into the room cheerily bright the room despite the thick curtains. From how much sunlight was filtering in it looked to be noontime.

The young martial artist never slept this long not even when she was sick. The children would be getting in all sorts of trouble with her sleeping in like this. With her watching them completely they still found way to get into trouble. She found their actions amusing most of the time. She did worried that they could hurt themselves without her presence.

Absently, she rubbed the back of her head as she tried to remember what had caused her to still be in bed. A feeling that there was something important going on tugged at her memories. She was having difficulty placing what exactly it was.

A sharp pain stabbed into her head as her had brushed against a huge knot. Wincing from pain, she realized that was what had caused her current state. Her mind was still blank as to how she had gotten the injury in the first place.

A memory of the church flashed through her mind. An image of a man with silver hair followed the first. The gate holding her memories back broke.

"Marlene!" Fearing for her young friend Tifa lunged to her feet. Before her feet hit the ground the world began to swirl around her in a very nauseating manner. She grabbed the edge of her bed to keep herself from collapsing on the floor.

The initial panic faded allowing her to review the events more reasonable. Her last memory was being struck in the back by a blunt object.

An unneeded flash of professional anger ran through her mind. If Loz's partner had not back attacked her she would have been able to defeat the arrogant man. Pushing the useless anger away she returned to Marlene.

The two men most have taken the child after incapacitating Tifa. Tifa could think of no reason for them to take Marlene. The child was just a normal child what could they need of her.

Marlene had been wearing Aeris ribbon. The thought brought a shiver to Tifa. She remembered how Shinra had captured her friend and what Hojo had been attempting to do to her. No matter what Tifa would not allow something like that to happen to Marlene.

The next thing she began to consider was how she had been returned home. She was not foolish enough to believe that she was in a state to walk home.

Cloud. Girlish hope began to rise in her as she thought about her friend. She knew that was not even a plausible thought. Cloud had been missing for a year. Against reason she still considered the option of Cloud rushing to save her like a knight in shinning armor.

When she began to feel a blush rising on her cheeks she forced her mind to think of a more reasonable solution. She doubted it was the two men, a neighbor perhaps.

It was strange that the two men had not finished her off when she was in such a vulnerable position. From what she had seen of the two men they seemed very blood thirsty in nature. They would have finished her if they had been given the chance.

Certain that she could now stand, Tifa pushed off the bed. Slowly she began hobbling towards the door. Another party must have interfered. Cloud could have been there to fight the men off. A tiny part of her squealed in joy as she considered the option of Cloud again.

As much as she wanted to believe it had been Cloud it just was not possible. She had too much to think about than to waste thoughts on the impossible.

There was still a slim chance that Marlene might have been returned. In her heart she did not believe this but she would check for the girl. Then she would have to figure out how to rescue Marlene from the men.

On the other side of the door she found Denzul standing there teeming with unbound excitement. Tifa shook her head as she looked at the boy. It did not take very much for him to get into this state. Even before he contracted Geostigma he was easily excited. The disease seemed to only add to his dramatic imagination.

"Aunt Tifa your better that's great. A really cool creepy villain guy came over to talk to you but when I told him that Mr. Cloud went to save Marlene he left." The child took a deep breath after relating his tail to her.

Cloud, everything seemed to freeze as she heard his name. Tears began to form in her eyes. Cloud had come for her. She had been right. Her crazy spiky haired friend had come back despite his note.

A huge load seemed to disappear from her heart as she thought about her hero. He had saved her from the two men at the church. They most have escape with Marlene.

She began to blush as she thought about how Cloud most have carried her back to the Seventh Heaven like a real hero. After making sure that she was safe he most have went after Marlene alone.

Alone, Cloud was in trouble. She could not be sure how much Cloud had seen of the two men but they were dangerous opponents. No matter how strong Cloud was. He could not fight two enemies of that strength alone. Even if Cloud could fight them two-on-two they had Marlene. They could use her as a hostage against Cloud.

From how Cloud disappeared for the last year he most likely believed that he would not need any help. He would not want help, Tifa was sure. No matter what he thought she was not going to let him fight alone again.

Not being alone remind Tifa of Denzel's creep man. The vague description sounded very familiar to the martial artist. "Was this villain wearing all red?" Denzel nodded jumping with excitement as he realized she know his creepy man.

Vincent had come to find Cloud. No one could get in contact with Vincent. The word that Cloud was no longer living at the Seventh Heaven could have passed him by. Or did he have some other way of tracing Cloud.

Vincent was not one to be uninformed probably from his Turk training. It could be possible that he knew where Cloud was now.

Denzel's voice broke though her thoughts of finding Cloud. "Do you know who the crazy man is too?" A crazy man, terror began to rise in her. Had the silver haired men come to the Seventh Heaven?

"What does this crazy man look like?" Tifa keep her voice calm trying to keep her fear from making Denzel more excited.

"He had red hair and was using Uncle Rude as a hostage." Tifa covered her mouth trying not to laugh in relief as she recognized the description.

Her effects seemed to fail for Denzel was staring at her strangely. In her current condition she merely nodded her head. She could image Reno's response to that.

The laughter died quickly as more important matters rose in her mind. "How long has it been since the cool villain has been here."

Denzel did not think before he responded. "I ran up here right after he left." His face was glowing with pride for thinking of the right thing.

Tifa smiled at him encouraging. It was still possible for her to catch up with him if she moved fast. She gave Denzel another encouraging smile. "I am going to meet with him stay here."

Not waiting to see the boy's response she started to run down the stairs. She could not move one foot before a wave of dizziness jabbed into her mind.

Denzel reacted quickly reaching out to help her to keep her footing. Her head injure in all the excitement about Cloud she had forgotten the extent of her injury.

Helplessness began to settle on her as she realized she would not be able to help Cloud like this. She could still tell Vincent what had happened and he could help Cloud.

She wished she could call either of the men. That was impossible because both Cloud and Vincent had not answered their PHSs since their disappears. Right after Cloud had left she had tried to call him several time. She knew he was not answering his PHS if he still had it. She would have to catch up with Vincent to have any hope of finding Cloud.

The only way for her to caught up with Vincent was to walk very slowly. At the moment it seemed so impossible but she had to try. She could not let Cloud go fight such a powerful enemy without some type of help.

"Aunt Tifa are you ok? Are you listening to me?" Denzel began to tug on her arm trying to snap her out of her stupor. Nodding, Tifa looked at the small boy. He was tall enough to support her.

"Yes, can you help me?" His face brightened like she had promised him a new video game system. "Yeah." Tifa knew it was a practical impossible idea but she had to get to Cloud.

"Vincent!" Tifa screamed into the busy streets despair filtering into her voice now. People were staring at her and Denzel but she ignored them. For the last ten minutes she had search the streets for any sign of her tall friend.

Fervently, she scanned the streets for any sign of red. Tifa had known it would have been nearly impossible to find him. Now that she was actually in the crowd streets it seemed completely impossible. She had not even considered that Vincent might not what to be found.

Helplessness began to settle on her heart again as began to realize the situation. No matter what she had to find Vincent. He was her only hope of find Cloud. Not just Cloud but Marlene as well. She did not know what she would do if either of them were hurt.

The streets began dancing around her as another bout of dizziness attacked her. Her injure was a cruel reminder of just how powerful those men were.

Once again she leaned against Denzel for support. The boy had started out so excited to be looking for the creep man. Now he only looked worried. Denzel worried it almost made Tifa laugh. Nothing troubled the boy.

"Aunt Tifa you don't look very well." Tifa could only give him a short nod as she waited for the world to return to normal.

Looking into Denzel's big brown eyes she realized how much of a mistake taking Denzel was. Tifa had not even considered his own sickness when she dragged him out with her.

At the moment he looked health but he could collapse at any moment. She would have to send him home. Her injure left her very crippled but she would have to survive on her own.

"Denzel, I need you to go back home." The boy frowned at her. A very parental look came into his eyes that would have made Tifa laugh if she was not so desperate. If Denzel was attempting to be sensible, she really was a mess.

"I think you should go home." His little voice was very firm. He stood up to his full height and attempted to glare up at her. Tifa forced a bright smile at the boy in an attempt to prove her next point. "I'm fine."

"You don't appear fine." The emotionless voice drew her attention from her little charge. Standing in front of the pathetic pair was, Vincent Valentine watching them with impassionate eyes.

"Vincent." In irony the world seemed to brighten as she looked at the red-garbed man. She would be able to help Cloud now. "I've been looking for you."

Vincent continued looking down at her in a very intimidating way. The expression did not bother Tifa for she knew Vincent well enough not to fear him.

She spared a glance in Denzel's direction to see if he was comfortable. Not only was he comfortable, his eyes were filled with hero worship. Only Denzel find someone so frightening awe-inspiring.

"I've heard." Even though his voice lacked a tone Tifa believed he was slightly annoyed. She blushed slightly. Vincent was a very private man he probably did not want her shouting his name though the streets.

"Denzel said you were looking for Cloud. Do you know where he is? The men that have Marlene are dangerous. He needs help to fight against them." She tried to keep the pleading note out of her voice. Vincent would not have appreciated her begging him.

There was a very long pause as she stared up at Vincent trying to read his expressionless face. This was her only change. By the time she recovered enough to help Cloud it would be to late.

Vincent turned from her and began to walk down the street. No, he could not walk away from her like this. "Vincent!" All her pain and fear filled his name as she screamed at his retreating back.

"Please." Her voice became a desperate whisper as tears began to form in her eyes. Ashamed of her tears she lowered her head trying to hide behind her long black hair. She would not let Denzel see her cry. How could Vincent just walk away from her like this?

"You can barely stand I don't think you can help Cloud now." Tifa looked up form the cover of her hair, surprised to her Vincent's monotone voice. He was standing two yards away from them his back still turned from them.

"I will find Cloud. You need to gather AVALACHE to fight the threat." The threat was it possible that Vincent know what was happening. At the moment Tifa did not care. Cloud would have someone to fight with him. With Vincent's own condition Cloud might not refuse his help as readily as he might her own.

"Thank you Vincent." Her voice filled with the gratitude that was filled her entire being. A slight smile crossed her lips. He was gone before she had even spoken.

Vincent had planned on helping her. He was just not planning on telling her. After a year Vincent had not changed. That left her hope that Cloud had not changed either.

Gathering the group together would be easily. Everyone was planning on meeting at Rocket Town again for the memorial service.

An even greater smile crossed her face as she thought about seeing Cloud again. If he had been able to conquer his demons the he might come home after all of this. Her only wish was for Cloud to return back home compete.

A slight feeling of doubt twisted into her mind but she pushed it aside. She had to believe that Cloud would return that was her hope.

The young woman looked down at her small friend. A radiant smile graced her face confusing the poor boy. "Let's go home."

Wind rushed through Cloud's spiky blond hair as he raced through the empty streets of outer Midgar. The area had been hit heavy by bandits in the first few months after Meteor. Cloud and several other mercenaries had cleaned the area out but people were too nervous to move out of there. Their fears were well founded. Shinra's rule did not stretch out this far.

Cloud barely noticed the surrounding area. His full attention was on the voice whispering in the distance. The further away they got the hard it was for him to judge their distance. They did not seem to be to far out of Midgar. At their current rate he would be able to catch up with them by dark.

At the forefront of his mind was the safety of the little girl. He did not want to think they would hurt her. Aeris said they need her. That would keep her alive for now.

In the dream Aeris had not said what they wanted from her. She said that he should know. Even now he could not think of a good reason. If Marlene was chosen to protect the planet would not Jenova what to kill her.

The vision of Tifa stabbed into his mind. Tifa, he had screwed up again. He should have been fast then he could have helped her against the voices. Guilt started cutting into him as he continued the train of thought. He should have left Tifa there alone.

What of Marlene he could not leave her all alone with the enemy. Tifa would want Marlene to be brought home.

A single dark spot began to stand out in the ruined streets. Cloud narrowed his mako eyes as he tried to make out what was up ahead.

A man dressed all in black stood in the center of the road. A bandit, Cloud wondered as he began reaching for one of his swords.

He thought they had all been drive out but it was not impossible for some to still be around. No one had taken care of this area in a year. At this distance he could tell that there was something dangerous about the man.

The man raised his hand in Cloud's direction. Was he casting a spell? Most bandits did not have access to materia.

Blue sparks began to form at the end of the man's fingertips. The blue energy looked like magic but it was not like any spell Cloud had ever seen before.

Who was this man or what was the man, the questions raced through Cloud's mind. He could feel something familiar about the man. The familiarity was making Cloud's stomach tighten.

An arched burst of blue white energy erupted from his hand rushing for Cloud. The mercenary tried to turn away from the energy racing towards him. The effort was in vain. Pure blue power crashed into the ground in front of the Fenrir sending the motorcycle and Cloud flying into the air.

Using his bike's momentum Cloud steered the cycle towards the man standing in the street. _Almost there_, Cloud pulled out one of his many broad swords planning to cleave the man in two when Cloud reached him.

There was a flash of silver. The man blocked Cloud's sword with a long katana. Cloud's eyes widened with surprise. No one was strong enough to block an attack with Cloud's strength and the weight of the Fenrir behind the blow.

Cloud felt his heart skip a beat as he fully saw what the man looked like. He was younger than Cloud with shoulder length silver hair. A strangled gasp came out of Cloud's mouth as their eyes looked.

A pair of green slit mako eyes stared straight back into his mako blue ones. Sephiroth, that was not possible. The moment seemed to continue even as the Fenrir drug Cloud away from the man.

The eye contact broke and the world came rushing back towards Cloud. He leaped off of the bike before it went crashing into the ground.

The instant Cloud's feet touched the ground the young man was there bring his katana down to strike. Cloud leap to the side barely keeping the slim sword from cutting into his chest.

"Who are you?" Another blow came down. This one Cloud did not have a chance to block. Fast as he could move he blocked with his broad sword.

The man was moving with super-human speed. Cloud's SOLDIER enhanced body was having trouble keeping up with the man.

A smile formed on the man's lips as he began to apply pressure on Cloud's sword. His strength was just as in human as his speed. The only person Cloud knew who could be so powerful was Sephiroth.

It could not be Sephiroth, Cloud's mind scream out as his sword began to slip from his grasp. Sephiroth was dead. No matter the illusions Jenova was showing him.

A white flash erupted in Cloud's mind. The image of Sephiroth began to over lay the man in front of Cloud. Cloud blinked hard trying to clear the image from his mind.

The handle of his sword went flying out of his hands. Cloud was able to back away from the lethal sword strike. The man did pause his attack. Another even faster strike was thrust at Cloud. Without hesitation Cloud pulled his spare blade out of hiding to block the attack.

Cloud blocked the attack easily. He did not even register his success. His full attention was on the blade tightly clenched in his now shaking hands. The blade in his hand was not his short blade but the slim blade of a horrifying katana.

The Masamune, everything seemed to freeze as Cloud stared in terror at the blade. This was not possible. In denial he looked down the length of the blade. It was the Masamune. No, this was a nightmare. It had to be a nightmare.

Taking advantage of Cloud's state of mind, his opponent smashed his fist into Cloud's head. Mental Cloud did not even register the blow. Shock gripped his mind so tightly he would have respond to anything. His mind keep scream that none of this could be real.

The blow sent him sprawling to the ground. It was a weak attack but his unresponsive mind kept him from keeping his footing. The cursed blade went flying out of his hands.

With the blade gone from Cloud's line of sight his mind started to work again. He looked up at his opponent. Standing over him was not the young man that looked like Sephiroth but Sephiroth himself.

Terror returned to tighten its grip on Cloud as he stared into the General's green eyes. The young man looked away from the General shame burning into his mind. Jenova could not be doing this to him. His own mind had to be creating the illusion of the General.

He laid on the ground inert wondering if the young man was going to finish him off as he laid there in his illusion. To his horror he realized that he did not even care. How could he protect anyone if he was seeing such vivid illusions? He was a far stronger threat to Marlene then the voices.

_No,_ he screamed in his mind as he realized what he was thinking. He would fail Tifa if he died. The voices were from Jenova he could not leave Marlene with them.

"I thought you learned how to tell the difference from illusion and reality." Sephiroth commented coolly as he began to walk out of Cloud's line of sight.

Cloud tried to stand up to give himself some type of defense. But found that his body was not longer responding to his commands. Angry, terrified he tried to force himself to stand. Nothing happened, he was at the mercy of a man he could not even see and an illusion.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see Sephiroth bend over to pick up the Masamune. "You'd better relearn the skill if you want to survive."

Cloud watched the General walk back over to him. Using all his effort he tired to control the emotions tightening in his chest. Sephiroth looked down at Cloud his green eyes completely expressionless. Cloud took a short breath as he stared into those eyes. Sorry Tifa.

Without a word Sephiroth sent the Masamune straight into Cloud's chest. The blade was far to sharp for Cloud to feel much pain from the actual blow but mental pain began to erupt in his mind.

Memories flashed in his mind clouding over the image of Sephiroth. Nibelheim began to dance around his mind. Zack was lying in a pool of his own blood telling Cloud to kill Sephiroth. A dark haired girl lying on the ground looking so fragile, Tifa, his mind tried to cry out to her. Fire began to wash everything away.

Cloud found himself staring up at a perfect clear blue sky. Every cell in his body seemed to be vibrating independently of him. His body was trembling violently from the after effects of the memories.

It could not be real. Last time it had not been real but he still had a large bruise around his throat. Had Reno been right? It was possible that he had done it to himself.

He sat up slowly pulling his knees to his chest. Leaning his head against his knees he tried to regain control of his quacking body. No matter what was happening inside of his mind he had to rescue Marlene and kill Jenova. He would fail.

An eternity passed before the shaking lessened enough for him to stand. He picked up his side arm trying his best not to look at the blade as he returned it to its place. Taking a shuttered breath he made his way over to his fallen sword.

Had he completely freaked out and thrown the blades around in some type of frenzy? That was the only explanation that came to him as he started at the Fenrir lying on the ground. He was reacting to illusions as if they were really. This made him far more dangerous than the anger he felt before.

The anger was something he could recognize. The images seemed so real. He could not even tell what was happening when he had one. If he was around other people he could hurt them without even knowing it.

He could hurt Tifa.

He forced his mind back on the voices. They were drifting further away. No matter how crazy he was he still had to save Marlene. If the source of the illusions were Jenova then when he killed her they would end. If she were not, he would have to deal with that later.

To **1**: Thanks for the reviews. I am sorry for the poor proofreading. My skills in that area are lacking but I am trying to do better.


	5. Saying Goodbye

Disclaimer: Advent Children is owned by Square-something. This is a non-profit work only for entertainment purposes.

Chapter 5

Saying Goodbye

"Shera." The feral cry was heard throughout the small village of Rocket Town. The citizens of Rocket Town stopped from their daily actives for a moment. Then they realized that the scream was coming from the home of the Captain they shook their heads and went about their business. There were times having such a drama king as town leader could be so embarrassing. Good thing the only visitor was at the Captain's.

The woman being called could only watch the ridicules sight in her kitchen and giggle. Being the proper woman that she was Shera only allowed herself a giggle and not the full-blown laughter trying to escape her.

Shera had only left the pair for a moment to get their ribbons. In her most bizarre dreams she had never imagined her husband acting so silly.

Yuffie Kisaragi was leading Shera's husband, Cid Highwind, in a merry chase around the kitchen. Her husband was a livid shade of red as he tried to get at the far younger ninja. A warm glow of pride filled Shera as she watched her husband running around the room panting.

A year ago he would have been cursing up a storm. He had reformed so much that he was only making growling noises and non-descriptive threats.

When they first discovered they were pregnant Cid promised he would give up some of his fowler habits. It had taken a lot of work for him to get to this point. For a time he was still coming home smelling like cigar smoke. True to the promise Shera forced him to sleep outside. He completely stopped three months before the baby was born.

The neighborhood children who spied on him informed Shera that he was true to his word. Of course, Shera believed Cid but it was always nice to have evidence.

Patiently waiting for the silliness to end Shera sat down at the far end of the table. She had no desire to get run over. Final Cid gave up chasing the faster ninja. Completely exhausted he made his way over to the table. With a smile on her face Shera pulled out a chair for Cid.

The proud pilot scowled at her then collapsed into the chair. Across the room Yuffie had found a perch on the kitchen counter. The girl was shaking from laughing at Cid's plight. Carefully tucked under the ninja's arm was Cid Junior.

Shera shook her head that was why he was chasing the girl around the room. Being a man Cid had developed an unhealthy protectiveness of Junior. Seeing anyone else hold his baby was too much for him.

At first it had been very amusing for Shera now it was tiring. In his over protective state Cid had driven all the babysitters away. Shera had not been able to get a break from caring for Junior in months.

Watching the young woman cuddle Junior gave Shera an idea. The ninja was planning on staying the night Shera could ask her to baby-sit. That would give Shera and Cid the opportunity to have a night alone, for once. What a wonderful idea. They had not been able to go out for months because of the babysitter crisis.

The Loveless was showing in town. It was one of the only plays Cid was willing to take her too. This was the last night it would be showing in Rocket Town.

Yuffie showing up early would work out perfectly for Shera. The woman had no doubt the younger girl would be eager to baby-sit, if only to annoy Cid.

"Shera make her give me my son back. Can't you see how she's corrupting him?" In response to his whining both Yuffie and Junior stuck their tongues out at the Captain.

The pleading note in her husband's voice was almost too much for Shera. Her husband seemed more like a child than a man at times.

Shaking her head, still quite amused, she decided it was time to end their squabbling. If this got any further she would not be able to talk Cid into leaving the house.

Then it came to her Cid was sitting in his chair far too tired to move. This would be the perfect time to put his ribbon on him. In his current condition he would not be able to struggle against her.

Slipping to her husband's side, Shera quickly began tying the small pink ribbon around his upper arm. Her poor Captain groaned in frustration as he realized what Shera was doing to him. Wearing pink went against his nature but it was for the Memorial so he would have to grin and bare it.

An eruption of nearly insane laughter came from the kitchen counter. Yuffie was all but rolling on the counter in laughter. Little Cid Junior was to young to understand what was happening but he was trying to mimic the ninja. They were so cute together. Another perfect opportunity to tie on a ribbon had appeared.

"Laugh all you want your next." Cid shot back to the young ninja who was to busy laughing to acknowledge the world around her. "Cid in pink-"Her laughter cut off abruptly as she realized that Shera was busily tying a ribbon on her arm. While the girl was distracted with her husband Shera had struck.

A pout covered the girl's face as she glared down at the ribbon. "What was Barrett thinking when he wanted us to wear these stupid things. Pink is such a girly color." Ever the tomboy, Shera thought as she finished tying the ribbon to Yuffie's arm. Putting the ribbons on was easily but keeping them on would be difficult.

"Does that mean you're a boy?" Childishly the girl stuck her tongue out at a smirking Cid. Much to Shera's liking Cid smiled coolly at the angry girl. He ruined his show of maturity by talking. "A very immature boy."

"Hm, I'm a woman see I can take care of children." To the pilot's horror Yuffie lifted little Junior over her head and began to wave him around. Little Junior squealed in delight as the ninja flew him around her head.

"Put him down!" Hearing the panic in her husband's voice Shera stopped playing around and acted. She took her baby out of Yuffie's hands. Before the girl could protest Shera gave her conspiring wink. Intrigued the ninja winked back mischief glittering in her eyes. Shera was positive now that Yuffie would make an excellent babysitter.

"Didn't you come here to tell us something important?" Cid snapped out he was annoyed that he had to beg. Shera was also interested in hearing what brought the girl over so early.

Knowing the members of AVALANCHE like she did Shera know Yuffie would not have come if the reason were not important. It was a little disappointed. Shera would not have mind having some girl talk time with the ninja.

Most of Rocket Town's women were considered babysitters so Shera had only been able to gossip while shopping. She was hunger for some long girl talk. It was a good thing Tifa was coming over tomorrow.

From how lightly Yuffie was taking things the problem could not be urgent. It was still possible for Shera and Cid to have one romantic night out.

Placing a hand behind her head Yuffie blushed lightly. "Oh yeah I forgot." There was a disapproving snort from Cid's direction. Shera tickled Junior's stomach to keep the child quiet. "Mustn't been very important."

The girl shot him a dark look as she began reaching into her vest. Then she frowned in puzzlement. "I know it's here."

A comical search began as Yuffie pulled the strangest things out of her green vest. Gil, shuriken, papers of sorts, a small book, rope, and an assortment of small thing Shera couldn't identify. The woman was not sure she wanted to know what some of that mess was.

A rather large pile began forming on the kitchen counter beside the frantically searching ninja. How was she able to store all that stuff in there? Shera wondered in astonishment at the vest capacity. With all the things Shera had to care around a vest like that would be useful.

"Come on Yuffie. Do you have it or not? I have better things to do than waste time on you." Despite how focused Yuffie seemed she was able to reply to the pilot. "Sure you do-here it's." Cheering with triumphant Yuffie pulled a palm sized object out of her vest.

The object was a frosted crystal orb with a red taint mixed in with the white frost. It was very beautiful. Shera was not quite sure of its importance. The ninja's object looked like an expensive trinket.

"Guess what this is?" Smugly, Yuffie asked the bewildered couple. To Shera it seemed that Yuffie did not actually expect them to know the answer.

"A gift from your 'boyfriend'." Cid rolled his eyes with annoyance. The ninja's confidence made Shera even more curious. Shera know that the girl did not get so excited about regular things.

Ignoring Cid's jive Yuffie began to toss the strange orb between her hands. "Wrong." With a ninja's grace the girl tossed the orb to Cid. The pilot caught the orb easily in his right hand. Still not impressed he lazily began to examine the orb.

Shera watched the orb closely as her husband turned it around in his hand. From the blank expression on his face Shera could tell he did not know what it was anymore than she did.

"What is it?' Cid was thoroughly irritated with the smug ninja now. "Well," he growled at Yuffie who seemed to be content sitting there looking mysterious.

As if a cue had been given the girl winked at Cid. "That is the mighty Knights of the Round Table." The Knights of the Round Table, Shera was not sure what that meant. One look at Cid told Shera that her husband knew exactly what the girl was talking about.

He started at the orb intently for the first time. It seemed as though looking at it would prove if Yuffie was right or not.

"What did you do to it?" Her husband growled at Yuffie who was still sitting there trying to look mysterious. The mischievous glitter in her eye was spoiling the impression.

Shera smiled with pride as Cid keep his langue clean even though he was quite upset about the situation. Cid Junior might still be a baby but strong langue could affect him.

"I didn't do anything." Yuffie held her hands up in a show of peace. The smile on the girl's face made it hard to tell if she was being honest or not.

"What it just stopped working?" The orb was obvious very important for Cid to reply with such sarcasm. Shera could not understand how he could be upset over something he could not even identify a moment before.

"No." Yuffie discarded her mysterious act as she began to explain what had happened to the strange orb. "It's like the mako was sucked out of it or something." Cid snorted in disbelief but kept quiet. What ever the orb was he was very worried about it.

"It started about two years ago with the weaker of the materia. Their power seemed to drain away." Materia that was what the orb was, Shera know very little about the substance.

During Cid's journey with AVALANCHE they had used materia to cast magic. The magic was produced from the mako that composed the orb. Mako to her knowledge was part of the Planet.

"Two years ago why didn't you tell anyone?" Yuffie replied to Cid's accusation with a shrug. "It wasn't a big deal. All the others still worked so why bother. Then the stronger ones started fading away. Until they were all like that." She nodded towards the frosted orb in Cid's hand.

"It's not just our materia either. I've search all over the Planet. Every piece of materia in the world's like that including the huge materia." Cid looked down at the orb with a thoughtful expression. "What could have caused this?"

The ninja shrugged again. "I don't know. I tried asking Red but everyone at Cosmo Canyon is researching that disease." Geostigma, Shera shivered at the thought tightening her hold on Junior. She did not know what she would do if Junior caught that horrible disease.

Taking her mind off the disease Shera began to think about the materia problem. No one used materia anymore it was possible that the Planet was taking the energy back.

Before she could state her conjecture Yuffie began to speak in a very excited fashion. "Any way I thought it would be real cool if we all started searching for what's been causing the materia to freak out."

Cid tossed the orb back to the ninja with disgust. "We all have lives now. It's probably better that materia isn't working anymore." Rolling her eyes at the pilot Yuffie returned the orb back to her vest.

"I wasn't thinking of asking you to go your old." Cid glowered at the ninja's comment about his age. "I know everyone's busy. That's why they need a break. I'm sure Cloud and Tifa wouldn't mind going with me. What?"

A brush rose on Shera's face as she realized she and the Captain were staring at the girl like she had gone insane. How was it possible that Yuffie had not heard about Cloud disappearing a year ago? The girl had been there when it happened.

"Cloud's been missing for a year now. You'd know that if you answered you PHS once in awhile." Yuffie looked over at Cid with disbelief written on her face.

"No way. Sure he got all mad but didn't he go crying back to Tifa or something." Sadly Shera shook her head, thinking poor Tifa.

The young woman was still having trouble dealing with Cloud's disappearance. " No. He never came back after he left."

"Oh," The ninja looked down crestfallen. A long uncomfortable silence stretched over the room. No one wanted to talk about what happened at the last Memorial.

Yuffie began the long process of returning her collection of items back into her vest. Disappointment was apparent in her posture. The normal loud Cid took a long swig of tea as he stared at a fixed point in the wall.

Shera brushed through her child's pale hair. Ever the good hostess she was trying to think of something that would lighten the dark mood.

Fate acted in her favor causing the phone to begin ringing. Grateful for the distraction Shera made her way to the kitchen phone. "This is the Highwinds how may I help you?"

"Shera I need to speak to Cid." The voice on the other line was Tifa. The younger woman sounded more excited than Shera could ever remember her being. "Is everything alright?"

Nothing short of Cloud coming back would make Tifa sound so happy. If Cloud had come back why was Tifa calling Cid. Shera would think the girl would have better things to do with her young man. "Everything is great can I talk to Cid know."

"Of course." Puzzled but not worried Shera held out the receiver for her husband. "Cid its Tifa." Cid stalked over to the phone grumbling something about being transportation.

It was his own fault people keep calling him if they need to go anywhere. The Highwind was the fastest vehicle on the Planet. Who would want to ride a chocobo if they had the Highwind available?

"Hey." Both Yuffie and Shera watched Cid in hopes of hearing something of interest. "Slow down who attacked." At the word attack Yuffie jumped off the counter and started heading towards the phone. It sounded like the girl might be getting her adventure after all. Shera could not share the girl's enthusiasm.

"Alright we're coming." Slamming down the phone Cid looked over at the eager ninja. "We're moving out brat." Yuffie did a little victory dance finishing by punching the air above her. "Yeah!"

"Cid," Shera called her husband's name out softly. The look he gave her almost caused her to started laughing. "What's happening?"

Cid was such a child, he thought she was going to make a scene and embarrass him. "Yeah who are we going to beat up?" Yuffie had been too engrossed in her dance to notice the exchange much to Cid's relief.

Keeping an air of unconcern Cid gave them the jest of what Tifa had told him. "Two men that look like Sephiroth kidnapped Marlene. Cloud's chasing them and we're going to get him."

A chill went through Shera as she heard the dead general's name. She would not worry though. Cid and the others had been able to defeat Sephiroth before. There was no reason they could not do it again.

Her husband had started walking to the kitchen door when he stopped abruptly. "Are you coming kid?" To Shera's surprise she noticed that the young ninja was standing next to her looking very pale.

"What's wrong now?" Irritation was evident in the pilot's rough voice. He seemed readily to get whatever was happening over quickly, much to Shera's delight.

"Their like Sephiroth how are we going to beat them without materia." Cid placed a hand on his forehead and groaned with annoyance. "Stop freaking out Sephiroth's dead these is just some punks making trouble."

That was enough to snap Yuffie out of her fear. "Your right we beat Sephiroth no one can touch us. Come on old guy we have some fighting to do."

With the return of her enthusiasm Yuffie bouncing out the kitchen door. Cid began to follow her but was stopped by Shera clearing her throat.

"What?" No matter what he thought Shera was not going to let him sneak out of the house without a goodbye. "I think your forgetting something."

An embarrassed flush spread over his face as Cid walked back over to her. Quickly he brushed through Junior's hair. "Be good for your mom."

Cid would have left at that but Shera gave him that look. Nervously the pilot looked back that the kitchen door. Then he stole a glance out the window. It took all Shera's will not to laugh at how paranoid he was acting.

Finally he came to the conclusion that the young ninja was not watching them. Shera was rewarded with a roguish grin that made her heart skip a beat.

"I'll see you." Her husband whispered as he gave her a soft peck on the lips. Quickly, he pulled away from the kiss gave Shera a salute and disappeared.

Smiling brightly Shera lifted Cid Junior into the air. The kiss had been more than she had hoped for it made up for missing the play.

The knowing expression on the red haired Turk's face haunted Yazoo. Whenever Yazoo closed his eyes he could see the Turk looking right back at him. For the better part of their journey he had not blinked.

The human had known that Yazoo was unable to kill him. Never before had any of Yazoo's victims give him that look.

The urge to kill the Turk almost overpowered the call of the reunion and his master's wishes. Not that Yazoo was foolish enough to follow such an urging. Kadaj would kill him without hesitation.

As Yazoo considered his situation he realized him might be unable to kill the Turk if he was given the chance. Until he attempted to kill the Turk he had been unaware of how deep Cloud's attempt at controlling him had affected him. Fear of becoming a puppet had keep Yazoo from acting.

Even here on a ship moving off the continent the fear of Cloud was still affecting him. The fear was so intense it was affecting his ability to reason rational. There would come a time when they would confront Cloud. Was it possible for Cloud to take control of them during the fight?

It was not possible to fight someone that could take over you and leave you as a puppet. The master had shone him that long ago.

"Scared." Yazoo turned slightly to see Kadja leaning against the railing looking out at the open sea. The longer haired man had not sensed his brother's approach.

Now that Kadja had revealed his presence Yazoo could feel a stronger power coming from the younger man. The master most have sent him to collect the remaining cells. The only ones of any worth left were in Cloud.

"Yes." Turning towards the sea, Yazoo kept his face a mask. There was little doubt in his mind that Kadja know his fears. The master had spent a great deal of effort making sure Kadja's abilities where beyond that of his brothers.

"When Loz and I confronted Lockhart I was unable to kill her. I believe Cloud took control of body. It is possible he could do it again." He could feel Kadja looking up at him. Knowing his brother's face was as guard as his own.

"What makes you so sure it was Cloud?" A valid question Yazoo had been asking himself during their journey. He believed he had come to a logical answer. "The person controlling me was doing so in an erratic manner. They were keeping me from killing the Lockhart woman. The master has no interest in keeping her alive."

Kadja nodded thoughtfully taking his eyes off Yazoo returning his gaze to the sea. "A frightening proposition big brother able to control us." His voice took on a playful quality as he spoke of Cloud.

"If it was possible don't you think he would be doing more than following us?" The question had plagued Yazoo. There was only one answer he had been able to surmise. "It's possible he is unaware of the ability."

Kadja looked back at him the smile he reserved for children playing on his face. "Then how does he know how to follow us?" Yazoo did not have an answer of course Kadja know that.

"It was probably the master. His far less stable than you've been lead to believe. Saving Lockhart could be part of his plan. Don't worry Cloud won't be given the opportunity to do anything against us."

It sound to Yazoo that he had been uninformed of an important part of the plan. He was not surprised. The only one who truly knew what was happening was Kadja. The master would only confide in him.

Kadja's words did little to reassure Yazoo. However he know if he wished to survive then he would have to control his fear.

The big mean man through Marlene into a small room. The hard wood floor hurt. Tears started running down her face again. All she wanted to do was go home and see her dad, Aunt Tifa and the kids.

The door slammed behind her leaving her alone. She did not like being alone. Using all her courage she forced herself to look around the room. It was the size of a large closet with a tiny rundown bed against one wall.

The rooms emptiness made her feel even more frightened. What if the scary men were planning on leaving her in here forever?

Whipping the tears from her eyes. Marlene tried to be brave like her dad would want her to be. More tears started pouring out of her eyes as she thought about her dad. Tomorrow would have been the first time she had seen her dad in months. He called her every day but seeing him was always better.

Now she would not be there for him to pick her up and tell her how big she was. She would not get the chance to see Aunt Shera's and Uncle Cid's new baby.

Her tears picked up. She had really wanted to see the baby.

The girl walked over to the bed wanting to lie down. The bed was not very inviting unlike her bed back home. Trying to find a better place to sit down Marlene looked around the room. Nothing had appeared in the room from when she had first looked around. The floor was too hard for her to sit on.

Resigning herself to the bed she sat down trying to whip away her tears. No matter how hard she tried to stop them they keep coming.

During the ride here she had asked the scary men what had happened to Uncle Rude. Neither of the men would tell her what happened. Her last memory of Uncle Rude was seeing him standing in a fighting stance. That was right before the big man had thrown her into a wall. It had hurt a lot.

She kept hoping that the scary longhaired man had stopped the big man from killing Uncle Rude. Back at the church he had only knocked Aunt Tifa out when he could have killed her. Could he be a good guy?

Marlene knew that he really could not be a good guy. There was something wrong with all of the men. A feeling of unnaturalness seemed to surround them, especially the new one.

The new one had been really nice to her when she had been carried on the ship. This man had actually talked to her unlike the other men. He treated her like she was a grown up too.

At first she thought that he was different than the scary men then she saw his creepy glowing green eyes. The two other men had the exact same eyes. They were just like Mr. Cloud's but green and slit like a cat's.

Mr. Cloud felt just like the scary men. She had not thought about how strange he felt until meeting the scary men. Wrapping her tiny arms around her shaking body Marlene tried to calm down. No matter how he felt Mr. Cloud could not be a bad guy.

The flower woman had been trying to talk to Mr. Cloud but something was stopping her. The scary men could be causing Mr. Cloud to feel strange if they were blocking Miss Aeris.

Aunt Tifa cared a lot about Mr. Cloud. The little girl could not believe that Aunt Tifa would care about a bad guy.

A soft giggle danced around the room. The scent of flowers began to fill the room carrying a warm presence. Miss Aeris, Marlene thought with a bright smile. She could feel the woman enter the room.

"I don't think care is the right word for how Tifa feels about Cloud." Like all the other times Marlene had spoken to the flower woman she could not see her. The girl could only detect the presence of the woman.

At the moment it felt like the woman was sitting right beside her. In her mind Marlene could feel Miss Aeris smiling.

"What do you mean Miss Aeris?" Marlene was always curious about the relationship between her older friends. This was not the first time Marlene had asked Miss Aeris about Aunt Tifa and Mr. Cloud.

Once Marlene had asked Miss Aeris if Mr. Cloud and Aunt Tifa were lovers. Mary Anne was always going on about how they were lovers so Marlene asked.

Much to Marlene's confusion Miss Aeris began laughing so hard she started crying. The little girl still did not understand what was so funny.

"You'll understand when you're older." Was all the woman would tell Marlene, when she had calmed down enough to talk.

Ghost fingers began coming though Marlene's hair sending waves of calmness running through the girl's frightened mind. Her tears had stopped the moment Miss Aeris had arrived. Instinctively the girl knew no one would harm her as long as Miss Aeris was with her.

"I am sorry that all this is happening." Miss Aeris presences seemed to wrap around Marlene as if the woman was hugging her. The sorrow in Miss Aeris voices alarmed Marlene. All the time Marlene had knew the woman she had never been sad before.

"It's not your fault Miss Aeris." The sadness Marlene had sensed seemed to evaporate. Miss Aeris felt better now.

"Why do they want me?" The woman sighed lightly as she left Marlene out of her embrace. The invisible fingers began to brush through her hair.

"Don't worry about that Cloud's on his way to rescue you right now." Marlene frowned. It was not that she was unhappy to hear that Mr. Cloud was coming to save her. She did not like how Miss Aeris had not answered her question. No matter what the answer was Marlene would not be afraid.

Marlene did not like being treated like a little kid anymore. Back at home she was old enough to help out all the time. Aunt Tifa even let her help take care of Denzel when he felt bad.

"Tifa gave you my ribbon." Forgetting her complaint Marlene beamed in pride. Her little hands went up to the pink ribbon resting on her head.

"Aunt Tifa put it up just like you used to wear it." The warmth in the room began to increase. Marlene knew that Miss Aeris was really happy Marlene was wearing her ribbon.

"I'd though it had been lost all these years." Fondly Miss Aeris invisible hands touched the pink ribbon. "It suits you." Marlene's cheeks burned with pride at Miss Aeris complement.

The woman had become Marlene's idol after they had begun talking to each other. To have this kind of praise was almost too much for the girl. More than anything she was glad Aunt Tifa had fixed her hair. When she got back she would have to give Aunt Tifa a big thank you.

"Is Aunt Tifa coming to save me too?" The air went still after Marlene had asked her question. A long silence began as Miss Aeris continued brushing through Marlene's hair.

The girl was puzzled at how distress Miss Aeris seemed to be acting. Nothing the girl said seemed to warrant this type of response.

Before Miss Aeris had always talked about Aunt Tifa and Mr. Cloud with such fondness. This most be one of those things Marlene would not understand when she was older.

"No." The flower girl's voice was soft and thoughtful far different than she normal sounded. "Tifa won't be coming with Cloud. It's better this way. Cloud would not be able to do what he has to do if Tifa where there."

Marlene listened quietly to Miss Aeris sad voice. In all their conversations the woman had never sounded so upset before. There was nothing the little girl could think of that could trouble Miss Aeris so.

"Don't worry Marlene ever things going to work out properly." The warmth returned to the air. Invisible hands began to readjust the bow in Marlene's hair. The men had messed her hair up by throwing her around.

"Lots of scary things are going to happen but don't be afraid." Nodding obediently into the air around her Marlene smiled. She trusted Miss Aeris completely. "I promise I won't get afraid."

"Good girl." The invisible had moved from her hair to gentle brush her cheek. With that the flower woman disappeared from the room. Marlene was left with a warm sense of comfort.

Now that she was not afraid she laid down on the hard bed. No matter what happened now she was going to be brave. Her eyes closed and she drifted away into a peaceful sleep.

Tifa smiled as she returned the phone to its proper place on the living room wall. She had been able to get into contact with all her old friends. Soon Cid would pick her up and she would be on her way to see Cloud.

Her head injury was healed to the point that she was able to walk unaided. By the time the others arrived she should be able to fight as well. It felt like it was only a matter of time before she could see Cloud.

She was trying her best not to think about her meeting with Cloud. All her idle thoughts did was raise her hopes up. There was no way for her to know if Cloud was ready to return home. He might help them save Marlene then wander away again.

There were more important things than to worry about Cloud's reaction to her. His saving her was enough for her to believe that he still cared about her. It had renewed her hope that he would come home one day.

Looking around the living room Tifa tried to find something to do to occupy her energy. She was ready to go at a moments notice but it would be a while before Cid would arrive.

The normal messy living room had been cleaned to perfection while she had sleep. A smile graced Tifa's lips as she thought about how helpful her children were.

Life had left them with practical nothing and yet they were still able to think about others. It made her feel so wonderful that she was able to raise such wonderful children. To bad they did not feel this generous when she was awake.

With nothing to do in the living room Tifa tried to think of some other chore she could do. There were not any. Mary Anne had forced all the other children into cleaning the house. Tifa was gratefully but it left her with nothing to do.

At the moment her children were all enthralled with something on the television. Even Denzel was watching. The program had to be very interesting for Denzel to leave without asking her a hundred questions.

Tifa would have liked to go and watch the program with the children but it was impossible for her to keep still.

The two men were very powerful. She kept worrying about what was happening to Cloud. Not only Cloud but Marlene as well.

Barrett had gone ballistic when he heard that Marlene had been kidnapped. The moment the word kidnapped came out of Tifa's mouth Barrett began shouting about how he was going to hunt the punks down and rip them to shreds. His terminology had been very inappropriate for a man with such a sweet little girl.

After he had settled down. Tifa told him to wait until Cid came by to pick him up. The big man had not been happy but he agreed to wait. Even in his rage he know that there was nothing to do but wait.

None of the other members of AVALANCHE had heard anything about the two men. The only two who know where Marlene was being taken were Cloud and Vincent. All the rest of AVALACHE could do was wait until Vincent contacted them.

Tifa did not like waiting. The longer she waited the more time she had to worry about everything. There was no reason for the two men to take Marlene.

The only thing she could guess about the men was that they had a connection to Sephiroth. They looked too much like him for it to be a mere coincide. That only made the reason for them kidnapping Marlene seem even stranger.

"Aunt Tifa." A child's voice cut through her thoughts giving her worrying mind something positive to focus on. Standing at the top of the stair was Garth. The boy was looking down at her with annoyance plain on his face. "Something in your room's beeping. It's making to much noise we can't hear the movie."

The woman's brows furrowed as she tried to think of what might be beeping in her room. Nothing came to mind. Curious she started heading up the stairs. "I'll get it. Go watch your movie."

Appeased Garth turned around and started running towards the den. "Thanks." He shouted over the shoulder as he ran into the room. Tifa shook her head embarrassed by the boy's behavior. The boy's manners need some improvement.

As she passed by the den door a loud beeping began to fill the hallway. Her crimson eyes widened with surprise. That was the PHS.

The woman took off towards her room in a sprint. Ever since Yuffie started using the PHS for prank calls it had been decided that they would only be used for emergences.

Tifa had tried calling Cloud with her PHS hoping that he would answer. He never did.

Opening the door Tifa stopped as she realized she did not know where the PHS was. It had been several months since the last time she had tried contacting Cloud.

Tifa ran a hand through her dark hair trying to remember were she left the device. The memory was not coming to her.

As a last resort she closed her eyes trying to locate were the sound was coming from. She pushed the panic from her mind focusing on the sound. There, to the right.

Tifa's eyes snapped open as she turned towards the sound. It was coming from her old Chester draws. She yanked open the first draw. Without a thought she pulled out her old travel outfit fling it across the room. The PHS had to be in here somewhere.

The next item she found was her fighting gloves. She tossed her gloves to the side her search becoming more frantic. The sound had to be coming from the draw.

Several more items followed her gloves before she saw the tiny PHS lying at the bottom of the drawer. Hastily, she ripped the box out of the drawer.

Had one of her friends encountered one of the men? Her nervous hands fumbled with the PHS. "Hello." She forced herself to take a stabilizing breath.

"Tifa." The sounds of a loud motor running almost drown out the voice but it was loud enough for her to hear who it was. "Cloud is that you are you alright?"

"Are you ok?" It sounded just like Cloud. Her worried mind did not ever consider that the voice might be a fake. All she could think about was if Cloud was safe or not.

"I am fine. Cloud, you have to listen to me, the men who have Marlene are dangerous." The panic she had been feeling lessened as she realized that Cloud was fine.

"I know Tifa. I am sorry for everything." The martial artist frowned at the last part. There was no reason for Cloud to apologize for her. If she had been thinking clearly she would have thanked him for saving her.

"Don't apologize just tell me where you are." Cloud's reply was so quiet she could barely make it out of the engine. "At sea."

Now that she had calmed down Tifa began to get frustrated with her old friend. He was being far too evasive. "Cloud, please tell me where you are? Everyone's ready to go. We need to know where."

There was a very long pause. The only reason Tifa know he had not hung up was the loud roaring coming over the PHS. The silence was tearing at Tifa's insides.

"Cloud-" He cut her off abruptly as she tried to end the painful silence. "Don't worry about Marlene I'll bring her back home. I promise." _No, Cloud, don't leave me again. _

"You can't fight those men on your own please tell me were you are." Tears started forming in her eyes as another silence began. Tifa gripped the PHS painful in her hand. Praying that Cloud was not going to say what she thought he would.

"You and the others can't be here Tifa. You'll just get hurt." Grief began to restrain her ability to speak properly. Cloud had not gotten better at all. "What about you Cloud?"

"I'll be fine." He was not going to tell her his location. He was not going to let her help him. There was only one thing else she could think of to do. It was selfish but she had to see Cloud again.

"Will you promise you'll come back home?" A third pause began it seemed to stretch out longer than the others. Tifa was too afraid to speak.

"I can't Tifa. You'll be fine without me." This hurt more than before. Last time he had been angry, now he sounded so normal. She could disbelieve the anger but not this.

"Cloud please." No matter how hard she tried she could not keep herself from crying. She could not believe he would do this to her again.

"Tifa don't do this. I'll make sure Marlene comes home." It might have been her imagination but she thought his voice cracked.

"Good bye." She had been wrong his voice sounded strong as he ended the conversation. There was a click as he hung up on her.

Overwhelmed with her grief and a little anger Tifa hurled the PHS across her room. The tiny device shattered as it smashed into the far wall. The woman did not notice as she sank to the ground in grief.

All her hopes of seeing Cloud again seemed to vanish away. Why had he come to save her if he was going to leave her again like this?


	6. A Meeting With the Voices

Disclaimer: Advent Children is owned by Square-something. This is a non-profit work only for entertainment purposes.

Chapter 6

A Meeting With the Voices

Cloud pinched the bridge of his nose trying to clear the nausea swarming in him. The sway of the loading dock was not helping his efforts.

That had been the worse ride in his life.

The boat's owner had graciously allowed Cloud, the great savior of humanity to ride in his boat. A free ride these days was hard to come by. Given the rush Cloud was in he jumping at the chance before actually looking at the boat. If he had seen the boat he would not have gone anywhere in it.

It was a sturdy boat but small, extremely small. The only place for passengers was an insanely small cargo hold that was packed to the gills with supplies for Bone Village. The generous owner had no problem with cramming Cloud and the Fenrir into the overstuffed hold.

There had not been enough room for Cloud to stand and no place for him to sit properly. So the entire trip he was stuck between crates in the most uncomfortable position imaginable.

When the ship made it to open water Cloud had the joy of discovering that the blasted owner could not steer in a straight line. Not only could he not steer the man drove the small boat faster than any other vehicle Cloud had ever been in.

That part had not really been too troubling. Cloud had made it to Bone Village far faster than he had expected. It was the phone call he made on the way that was eating at him.

He had made Tifa cry.

Shaking his head sharply Cloud tried to clear his mind of anything to do with Tifa. Waves of dizziness washed over Cloud from the sudden movement. The loss of balance caused Cloud to stumble slightly. He steadied himself on the Fenrir taking several deep breaths as he waited for the world to stop spinning.

It hurt to think about Tifa. Nothing he ever did worked out the way he wanted it to. He had fooled himself into believing Tifa would not have been hurt by what he had planned to say. The guilt form the conversation was still fresh in his mind.

There was no uses thing about things he was not planning on changing. He could not let Tifa come and now she was not.

In an attempt to block out the pain he closed his eyes trying to listen for the voices. They were closer now. The ride here had giving Cloud the time to catch up with them.

As he continued listening he could feel Her presence stretching around the small town like a cloud of black smoke orientating somewhere to the north. Cloud could feel Her taint mixed into the air as it threatened to suffocated him. The pull was being transformed into a painful yank as Her mental grasp tightened against him.

Part of him wanted to throw down the Fenrir and go running blindly to Her. That part seemed to be growing by the second.

Moaning as his inner conflict continued to rage Cloud rested his aching had against the cool metal of the Fenrir. No once had he thought this would be easily but he had not expected it to be anything like this. Just standing on the ramp was casing him pain now. It felt as though his entire body was aching to go to Her.

Last time had been nothing like this. His friends simple being there had stabilized him more than he had realized. Tifa had been with him then.

"Hey you look kind of green." Cloud forced his eyes opened to see who was addressing him. A skinny teenage boy was standing in front of him curiosity more than concern was glittering in his brown eyes. The distraction allowed Cloud to refocus his mind on the mission.

Giving the teen a weak smile Cloud stood trying to look as normal as possible. His motion sickness had final passed giving Cloud one less opponent to contend with. "Yeah I don't agree with ships."

"Has any one else come through here?" Cloud known the answer even before he thought to ask the question. The question just seemed like the right thing to say.

The kid's dark eyes brightened with excitement, "Three guy came riding though on the coolest motorcycles ever." Brown eyes wandered over the Fenrir and the boy adjusted his original statement.

"Well not as cool as your but better than anything we get up here. They went through the Sleeping Forest not ten minutes ago." Looking past the dig sight to the thick forest beyond Cloud felt a sense of nostalgia.

"Don't tell me they don't have a Lunar Harp." A wry smile played on Cloud's lips as he continued looking at the forest in the distance. It almost felt like he was tracing down Aeris again.

"Why would they need one?" The mercenary sharply turned his attention from the forest to the teen. "Don't you need a Lunar Harp to pass through the forest?"

Bewildered at Cloud's actions the boy shook his head. "Not any more. Two years ago you used to or that's what my dad says. He keeps going on about something draining the forest of its magic." The teen rolled his eyes at the last part but Cloud was to catch up in his own thoughts to notice.

The Planet or Jenova. It was most likely the Plant taking the magic of the forest to sustain itself a little longer, another victim of Geostigma.

Cloud felt slightly disappointed at the fact that he had not need the Lunar Harp. Before finding a boat he had wasted valuable time finding their old one. If he had known he did not need it he could have gotten a better ride.

"Thanks." The boy had continued talking and was taken by surprise as Cloud started walking away from him. At least the kid had enough sense not to follow after the mercenary.

With the motion sickness gone Cloud's head had cleared enough for him to try and listen for the voices. Using a great deal of effort he attempted to push Jenova out of his mind. It did not work as well as he would have liked but Her call was quiet enough for him to pick out the voices.

A chill ran along Cloud's body as the voices came in clear than before. They were no longer undefined whispers in the distance. With a little more effort he felt that he would be able to pick out individual thoughts.

Cloud shook his head trying to clear it again. Being so close was messing with his mind more than he imagined. It was giving him really strange thoughts.

Midgar looked a lot different then the last time Yuffie had been there. Not that she had really seen much of the city the last time. She had been to busy fighting motion sickness and falling to actually get a good look at anything. Now that she was able to see it in the twilight she had to say she was not that impressed.

All her friends keep talking about how bad the city had gotten. It did not look that way to the young ninja. Hundreds of people were moving around the shopping district all of them seemed to be enjoying the evening.

Sure the buildings surrounding them were crumbling from decay but it was a lot better than Wutai. Back home the buildings were perfect but the people were not so happy.

Even with Shinra moving out of the provenience nothing had changed. The great city of Wutai was nothing more than a tourist trap.

_But not for long_, Yuffie thought with a wild grin as she continued to watch the city of Midgar move around her. After this quest she would restore magic back to the materia and use it to save Wutai.

Crazed laughter started bubble in her throat as she thought about how glories her restored Wutai would become.

Her laughter stayed where it belonged. Over the last few years she developed self-control. No longer would she laugh manically and accidentally tip off her enemies to her plans. Even with her training she was not able to completely whip the grin off her face.

"What are you smiling about?" Sighing in annoyance Yuffie stole a glance at her partner.

It seemed that Red was still upset at her for ditching him back at the outer city. She did not see why. How was she supposed to know that their where bandits crawling all over the place?

Sure it could be argued that Cid had said something about bandits before they left. But who listened to him. It was not like he ever said anything important.

Besides Red was a big, um what ever he was. He could take care of himself. Why was he even complaining? He had not even gotten a scratch from fighting all those bandits.

"Just thinking of all the fun we're going to have." Red rolled his good eye as he responded in a very sarcastic tone. "Right."

Turning her full attention to her partner Yuffie stared at him with open amazement. She was not that amazed but she was trying to annoy him. "Was that sarcasm?" Placing a hand to her heart Yuffie smirked down at him.

"I thought you were smart don't you know sarcasm is a dying man's wit." Red glowered at her jive. Then realizing that he was only encouraging her he looked away in disgust.

Laughing merrily at his action Yuffie continued looking down at her companion. No matter how Red tried to act like an adult mental he and she were the same age. Rethinking her observation Yuffie bet she was the oldest mental speaking. Oh, that gave her a whole new way of poking fun at him.

Not right now though. Red might decide to loss her in the crowd that would be annoying. The crowd streets parted for them as people got a good look at Red.

Yuffie figured it was because Red looked so feral with his scars and missing eye. Good thing he was not talking or the crowd would realize what a wimp he was.

"Do you see Tifa yet?" Placing a hand over her eyes Yuffie tried to scan the streets again for the martial artist. Since she decided to refrain from teasing Red at the moment she had gotten bored again.

So many people it was nothing like Wutai. At least like Wutai was now. Soon she would change all that. Maniacal laughter began thundering in her head again as she though of her so to be great city.

Red shook his head tiredly, "No but then I can't see over all these people." Oh yeah, Yuffie had forgotten that he was a giant cat monster. He acted too much like a person for her to remember that he was not.

Frowning Yuffie realized this was going to take longer than she planned. The crowd was to thick for her to see anything and the instructions Cid gave were pathetic.

This would have been a whole lot easier if Tifa and Cith meet them outside the city. While there were gangs and bandits running wild through the other city and it was not actually safe to go through there alone. Yuffie had no doubt Tifa could have made it without any problem. The older woman was tough. She could have easily fought off all the crazies.

Complaining to Red would have been pointless she know exactly what he would say. You could have stayed on the Highwind. Yeah right, like she wanted to say on that bucket of bolts puking up her lungs. No not for her.

"Yuffie," The ninja looked over at Red with surprise he normal did not address her in such a serious voice. The big cat was looking at the ground in an almost sheepish manner. What was his problem?

"What do you think about all this?" The ninja had no idea what he was talking about or why he was acting so strange. "All what?"

Sighing Red tried again keeping his gaze fixed on the ground. "An enemy who looks like Sephiroth, Cloud acting strange, don't you think this sounds to familiar?"

Yuffie shrugged, his question was not making a lot of sense to her. "So all this happened before. We handled it. I don't see you problem."

Once again Red sighed at the ninja's confusion. "I am trying to say it might be possible this men are responsible for how Cloud's been acting for the last year."

Red was sort of making sense now but Yuffie could not grasp his point. "So." Closing his eye Red began to speak very slowly like Yuffie was five or something. "They could take control over Cloud."

The anger Yuffie felt at Red's condescending tone disappeared as she started laughing. Startled the feline looked up at her in confusion.

Whipping tears of laughter out of her eyes Yuffie began to explain herself to her bewildered friend. "Come on this is Cloud. The great and mighty Sephiroth couldn't defeat him why would a bunch of posers be able to." Red was still looking at her with confusion probably because she had not stopped laughing during her explanation.

Taking a deep breath Yuffie was final able to stop laughing at how ridicules Red was thinking.

"Look at it this way. After the Lifestream mess Sephiroth couldn't control Cloud anymore. The only person who can mess with Cloud's mind is Cloud. He'll get over it."

"I guess that's possible." Unconvinced Red went back to looking at the ground. Not that Yuffie cared what he thought.

She was not in the mood to repeat her speech. If the guy could not figure it out the first time she was not going to waste her time re-explaining.

Bored with Red Yuffie began looking into the crowd again hoping to see Tifa. The quicker Yuffie found Tifa the quicker Yuffie could go back to saving Wutai.

After a few long moments Yuffie moaned in frustration. Tifa was nowhere in sight. The ninja began to wonder if they had passed the woman during that wasteful conversation.

Much to Yuffie's puzzlement Red raised his nose into the air and took a long sniff. The tiger looked back in her direction with a wide smile on his face or the equivalent. "Tifa is nearby."

Final. Standing on her toes Yuffie tried to see over the taller crowd in an attempt to see her older friend. Discovering that it was impossible for her to see Yuffie decided to changed tactics.

"Tifa!" With all the noise the crowd was making it should have been impossible for anyone to hear Yuffie's shout. However Yuffie's shrill cry was clearly heard throughout the entire shopping district.

Not hearing a reply, despite the impossibility, Yuffie tried again shouting much louder. All the people in a ten-foot radius of the girl covered their ears against the painful cry. Red who was not blessed with hands was only able to wince. "Not so loud." The ninja completely ignored his plead as she shouted again.

People started moving away from the shrieking girl forming a large hole in the crowd. Through the hole Yuffie was able to see a lone woman with long dark hair sitting on a bench looking down. That was Tifa.

Cheering with excitement Yuffie waved at her older friend trying to get her attention. Every person in the crowd glared at her with frustration with the exception of Tifa.

She's must be thinking about Cloud, Yuffie thought with annoyance as she realized why Tifa had not heard her. Young love, how disgusting. Yuffie was glad she did not have some man keeping her down.

"Something seems wrong." Red said with concern when the crowd had final parted enough for him to see the woman. Completely ignoring him Yuffie sprinted over to the woman.

"Hey, Teef ready to go have some fun." The ninja's excitement faded as Tifa continued looking down oblivious to Yuffie. Tifa's dark hair veiled her face but Yuffie had a sinking feeling the woman had been crying. The world had to be ending if Tifa was crying in public.

"Tifa," Yuffie's voice came out weakly as she tried to think of something to say. Comforting people was not part of Yuffie's foray.

Brushing though her short hair Yuffie realized that Red was better at this comforting thing. The ninja looked over her shoulder giving Red a pleading look. It twisted her stomach but she had no other option.

The feline took his sweet time getting over to the women making Yuffie feel even more nervous. She did not want to snap at him incase it freaked Tifa out or something. Zombie Tifa was bad but Yuffie did not believe she could handle a hysterical Tifa.

When Red final arrive he lightly nuzzled Tifa's right arm as he called the woman's name. Like that was going to work. Yuffie was annoyed and relieved as Tifa jumped slightly.

The woman looked up whipping a hand across her eyes a smile was across her face. The smile was the most miserable smile Yuffie had ever seen.

"What happened?" Yuffie blurted out. Looking at Tifa was making the ninja feel terrible. Red shot her a disapproving glare for her bluntness. Sticking her tongue out at the feline Yuffie tried again with more tact. "Are you alright?"

Taking a shaky breath Tifa nodded her head not looking either of them in the eyes. "Yes, I am sorry you came here. Cloud doesn't want any help." Acting just like a house cat Red laid his head down on Tifa's lap letting the woman brush through his fur.

Yuffie shook her head with frustration as she watched Red try to comfort their older friend. Unlike him Yuffie was not as understanding. She wanted answers now.

"What are you talking about? I thought you haven't even see Cloud." Looking away from Yuffie the martial artiest raised a glove hand to her mouth in an attempt to keep control.

"He called me. He doesn't want us to get hurt." The words came out from behind Tifa's hand in a choked mumble. Wincing Yuffie realized Tifa was able to started crying again. Yuffie could not allow that it was too freaky.

Keeping her eyes on the side of Tifa's head Yuffie tried to talk her friend out of her insanity. "Come on Tifa what's the matter with you. Remember the bad guys can sound like Cloud on the phone it had to be them." Tifa turned towards Yuffie her crimson eyes glittering with tears and hope. "You think so."

Doing her best to keep her face completely blank Yuffie tried to continue encouraging her friend. "Duh Tifa I mean come on Cloud never knows what's good for him so why would he be telling you what's good for him."

Yuffie flat out lied on a regular base it was part of being a ninja. It was very uncommon for her to feel anything that could be consider remotely similar to guilt. Looking into Tifa's hopeful eyes Yuffie could feel the foreign emotion clawing into her heart.

Yuffie had a feeling that the man on the phone had been Cloud. What was said sounded suspiciously like something Cloud would say.

Her belief was making it difficult for her to think of a reasonably good lie. The one she was currently using did not make any sense what so ever.

She could feel Red's curious gaze as he and Tifa waited patiently for her to continue. Swallowing Yuffie tried to think of something that Tifa would want to hear.

"Cloud's probably in trouble so he-"Yuffie ran a hand through her hair uncomfortable with the attention she was getting, Tifa was practical hanging on her every word.

She was not used to this. Everyone always ignored her because she was annoying. If she known having all the attention was so nerve racking she would have never tried to get it in the first place. The fact she could tell Red was laughing at her attempt was not helping her.

"Um, lost his PHS and the villains have it and they want to cut him off so they called you." She had no idea what she said after that it all became one long mindless rambling as her mouth continued running without any connection to her brain. _Come on, Red you can help out._

As if he read her mind Red choose that moment to interrupt. Relief washed over her as Tifa's stare was moved to the feline. The girl sighed hoping he made more sense than she had.

"Yuffie is trying to say that even if it was Cloud calling he might not be in his right mind. If these people have a connection to Sephiroth like it seems it is internal possible they can affect Cloud in a similar manner. Therefore they might be attempting to drive Cloud from the group to assist in manipulating him further. In that case it would be best for Cloud for us to find him despite his wishes."

After finishing Red gave Yuffie a playfully wink. He total showed her up then her had the nerve to wink. Angry Yuffie stuck her tongue out at him momentarily forgetting about Tifa.

"You're right." Tifa's quiet yet strong voice broke through the pairs feuding. A triumphed smirked broke out on Yuffie's face as Red turned his attention back to Tifa looking very chastened. Unashamed Yuffie looked at Tifa relived to see a sincere smile on the older woman's face.

"Thank you." Yuffie would have told Tifa no problem but the older woman stood up suddenly giving Yuffie a warm hug. The ninja blushed knowing full well that nothing she said had meant anything.

Feeling embarrassed at being the target of such strong emotions Yuffie pushed Tifa back slightly. What would people say if they saw her being all sappy?

"Come on woman get a hold of your self. What's the toy going to say when he sees you weeping like this?" There were still tears glitter in Tifa's eyes but they seemed to be of the happy variety. That did not mean Yuffie was not embarrassed for her older friend.

Keeping a bright smile on her face Tifa nodded to Yuffie. Then the woman gave Red an affectionate pat on the head, which he grateful accepted.

Yuffie rolled her eyes at the pair. This was getting way to emotional for her all she wanted was some action. "I normal don't go by 'toy' but if Tifa wants to call me that I have no objections."

The voice caught Yuffie completely off guard. It was not that annoying Caith Sith or Reeve. No, it was that arrogant jerk Reno. What could he possible be doing here? From Tifa and Red's expression they were not expecting to hear the Turk either.

Red moved into action first leaping into a defensive stance in front of the women. Following his lead Yuffie spun around pulling a handful of shurikens out of her vest.

"What are you doing here?" It was not just Reno standing in front of them looking inhumanly smug but he had his buddy Rude with him. Frowning at her bad luck Yuffie wished she had listened to Cid and brought the Shuriken. She would have a hard time fighting with just a handful of shurikens.

Sneering at them Reno made no move to attack. He causal lighted a cigarette watching them like they were not worth his time. "Reeve's busy so he sent us. Got a problem." The last part sounded like a challenge to Yuffie. She wanted some action and it looked like so was going to get it.

"Yeah-" A strong but gentle hand gripped Yuffie's shoulder keeping her from flinging her shurikens right into that jerk's face. Glancing back Yuffie was surprised to see Tifa smiling at the Turks. Actually it looked like she was smiling at Rude.

"Hi Rude how is Elena?" Yuffie jerked her head around to see how Rude would react to such a friendly question from Tifa. To her surprise the dark Turk shrugged slight. "She's alive."

Red's tail twitched in irritation showing his confusion. Why on the Planet would Tifa be on friendly terms with two of them? From Tifa's smile it seemed like they where on very friendly terms. Yuffie bet Cloud did not know about this or he would not have left.

"Tifa," Red looked back towards the woman confusion written all over his face. "How...why are you and Rude so friendly?" Turning red with embarrassment Tifa sheepishly brushed through her dark hair. That was what Yuffie wanted to know. She just could not think of a nice way of asking.

"Rude and Elena have been helping out around the orphanage." Rude a Turk was helping little kids that just did not see possible. "Say what?"

"Can we please stop talking about Rude?" The irritation in Reno's voice caused Yuffie to turn back to the black suited men. No way, Reno actually looked flustered. Even stranger Rude actually looked smug or as smug as an expressionless person could. There most have been something very interesting going on. Something Yuffie really wanted to know.

"I want hear about this." Reno's face turned as red as his hair. This was really bothering him Yuffie thought with amusement.

"Just shut up brat." The Turk's growl only made the young ninja more interested. Tilting her head to the side Yuffie continued pestering him. "Come on Reno I bet everyone wants to know."

Taking a step forward Reno reached for his electro-rod his intent written all over his face. "I don't give a -" His progress to Yuffie was halted as Rude grabbed his arm. "Come on lets go." Violently Reno ripped his arm out of Rude's grip taking a long drag from his cigarette. "Whatever." He sullenly replied.

Yuffie's taunting had never caused anyone to react so violently before. Enjoying Reno's reaction Yuffie opened her mouth to continue.

Before one word came out she felt Red's mouth wrap around her leg. "Be quiet." He growled up at her tightening his grip on her leg. Scowling down at him Yuffie defiantly folded her arms across her chest. There was no way she was going to let him bully her out of her fun.

"Yuffie can you antagonize Reno latter we have to find Cloud and Marlene." Yuffie's resolve broke as she looked into the older woman's eyes. "Alright," she said with a sigh. It was not like she could not bother Reno on the ride to wherever they where heading.

"Thank you." The older woman whispered softly to Yuffie a bright smile on her face. Probably thinking all about Cloud. Disgusting.

Using her right hand Yuffie waved the thank you away. "Let's just get out of here. I've got better things to do." Everyone was going to think she was a softie after this.

The pressure on her leg disappeared. Red had final decided to release her. Giving her a brief smile Red began walking back towards the Highwind. What was his problem?

"So we can leave now." Testy, Yuffie thought with a smile as she realized just how far she had gotten under his skin. She could not help wondering what was causing him to act so un-Turk like. Maybe it was his time of the month.

Before Yuffie was able to share her opinion on Reno's mood a low growl rang out over the noisily backdrop of the crowd. The Turks and the members of AVALACHE tensed at the sound.

That had not sound like a dog. Yuffie' grip on her measly handful of shurikens tightened as she scanned the crowd. That had sounded like a monster. Since when did monsters roam crowded streets?

Yuffie spotted a blur of motion heading directly towards the Turks. "Watch out," Screaming at the top of her lungs Yuffie tried to warn them even though she knew it was too late. Thing was moving so fast they would not have time to react.

Then it did the strangest thing. Instead of attacking the Turks it leap right over their heads. Yuffie did not have a chance to ponder on the strange behavior because her full attention was on the huge mass hurling directly towards her. Terror spiraled through Yuffie freezing her to the spot.

"Move." Without conscious thought Yuffie reacted to the command by flipped to the right in an attempt to avoid the thing. Her sense returned to her as she heard a something wooden shatter.

"Tifa!" That had to be the bench behind Tifa. Terrified Yuffie tried to turn in the flip to see if her friend was still alive. Her desperate attempt to see what was happening destroyed her flip causing her to go crashing into the ground.

That hurt, landing hard on the ground Yuffie laid there a moment wondering if she had broken anything. A loud growl pulled Yuffie out of her dazed state.

Looking up slightly Yuffie was final able to see the monster. It was huge. In all her travels the ninja had never seen anything like that before.

The monster had an almost feline body type however it was not like other cat monsters. It was almost as large as a car with an olive green skin covered by organic looking gray armored skin. At its feet were the remains of the bench.

It did not look like Tifa had been squashed because the only thing under the monster feet was wood. So where was the martial artiest.

Ten feet in front of the beast something small and dark was falling to the ground. The dark thing was Tifa. With cat-like grace Tifa came out of her flip landing in a perfect battle stance facing the monster. Yuffie's face flushed as she thought back to her own landing.

In raged the beast growled jumping towards the dark haired woman. The creature's movement appeared to be nothing more than a blur. Yuffie saw Tifa's eyes widen as the woman realized how fast the monster was moving. At the creature's current speed Tifa would not be able to get out of the way.

Inspired by her friend's predicament Yuffie valiantly tried to get back on her feet. Her still aching body was not quite ready to obey her commands. Angry at her position Yuffie tried to think of some way of saving her friend from being ripped to shreds.

Like a streak of lighting, something large and red collided into the beast knocking it out of the air and away from Tifa.

Yuffie cheered as she realized that the red missile was no other than Red.

The beast landed perfectly on all four feet. Then it stumbled as Red landed squarely on it's back. Crying out in rage the beast began trying to shake the large feline off it's back. To keep from being dismounted Red dug his claws between the creature's armored plates for an unbreakable grip.

Yuffie blinked as she stared at the strange sighted. It looked like someone had tied a cat to an angry dog. What was he think? No one would be able to help him as long as he was on top of that thing.

As Yuffie soon discovered Red did not need any help in defeating the monster. Stretching his body forward Red ensnared the monster's unprotected neck with his large jaw. A loud snap was heard throughout the now empty shopping district.

Instead of falling forwards into a very dead heap the creature did something far more disturbing. The creature stumbled forward. It's broken neck still in Red's firm grasp for an instant it looked like it would continue fighting. Then the creature collapsed dissipating into a glowing green mist.

With nothing left to support him, Red went tumbled to the ground. He was in such a deep state of shock that his feline reflexes were unable to save him from landing in an ungainly heap.

This would have been a perfect opportunity to tease the cat but Yuffie had barely noticed his fall. Her eyes like everyone else were on the fading green mist hanging over the fallen Red.

Monsters did not just disappear into thin air or green light to be appropriated. All the monsters Yuffie had ever seen had left a body just like every thing else on the Planet. Turning into green mist made the monster seem almost otherworldly.

As she continued watching the mist completely faded making it seem that the beast had not excited in the first place. No one spoke for a moment as they tried to gather what they had just witnessed.

The silence of disbelief hanging over the district was shattered very abruptly. "What was that?" Reno's question awoke everyone out of the state of shock that had settled over the group.

Now that everything seemed normal again Yuffie tried to return to her feet. She winced as pain shot through her halting her efforts.

While nothing had been broken from her poor landing Yuffie felt as though she had become one giant bruise. Too bad her materia was not working. She could really use a cure spell.

Sighing in annoyance Yuffie looked around to see if she could get some help from her comrades. The boys were all standing where the beast had died. They looked to be examining the area probably for a clue as to what it was.

_Yeah pay attention to something that's dead and not your hurt ally_, Yuffie thought with a growl as she wished bad things to happen to those insensitive jerks. She could understand the Turks but Red. Was not he her friend? How could he leave her here like this?

"Need a hand." Looking away from the targets of her anger, Yuffie saw Tifa's black-gloved hand reaching down to offer assistance. Yuffie glared at the hand hating the idea that she needed the help. It was shaming for a ninja to get help.

Reluctantly, Yuffie accepted the help. Grabbing Tifa's hand, Yuffie let the older woman pull her to her feet. Tifa being herself said nothing making Yuffie more infuriated.

After getting to her feet Yuffie stumbled a moment from a sudden bust of pain. Tifa helpful as ever tried to stabilize the younger woman but Yuffie waved her attempt away. This time ninja was not going to accept any of Tifa's humiliating help.

Her body final got reacquainted with the idea of standing causing Yuffie to sigh with relief. For a moment there she had been concerned that she had caused herself permanent damage. Her body was just sore. All she needed to do was stretch the kinks out and she would be fine. A lot of ice packs would not hurt either.

"You okay." Yuffie had forgotten that Tifa was still standing there. Concern was etched on the woman's face making Yuffie felt very uncomfortable.

"Yeah, why don't you go and rescue Cloud?" Tifa turned away from Yuffie trying to hide the blush that was growing across her face. The attempt failed.

Feeling much more like herself Yuffie allowed herself a predatorily smile. She had not gotten a chance to tease Tifa because of this whole comforting thing. Now that Tifa was normal Yuffie could have some fun. Unlike Red, who would just ignore her, Tifa would actually get all flushed much more fun to watch.

At the exact moment Yuffie planned on starting Tifa stiffened. Sure that the older woman had not read her mind Yuffie tried to think of what could have caused the strange reaction. Oh, there might be another one of those creatures running around. Yuffie had not thought of that before.

In most case powerful monsters like that only attacked one at a time. If there were more Yuffie was not worried. Red had taken the first down without a problem. With the whole group ready another would be child's play.

Looking past her friend's tense form Yuffie tried to see where the next monster was. Her eyes practically bulged out of their sockets. On top of the run down building right in front of the women stood not one monster but five. Every single one of them looked prepared to pounce at a moments notice.

Yuffie tried to fight down panic. This beast looked like they were all planning on attacking them at once. There was no way their small group would be able to fight off so many monsters.

The beast seemed to be waiting for something. Reno cursed behind them causing Yuffie to whip her head around to see what else could go wrong.

Right in front of the Turks was an almost mirror image of what was behind Yuffie and Tifa. Five beasts were situated on a building's roof predators ready to strike.

An ambush. Yuffie moved closer to Tifa wishing that she had a really weapon. The small shurikens she had would do nothing against these things. Materia would be really useful right now.

Her movement attracted the attention of the beast. There empty eyes focused completely on her sending shivers of pure terror through her body. She had not felt like this since the final fight with Sephiroth.

At once every single beast let out a low growl as the leap towards the heroes.

The sleeping forest was just as exotic looking as it had been two years ago. Just like last time Cloud had little time or thought to appreciate the breathtaking beauty. Both times he had come through here were for the same reason, to save the girl and defeat the enemy. Last time he had failed on both parts. Cloud tried not to think about the outcome of this venture.

The forest was thick with magic. Cloud had felt the forest's magic long before he had stepped foot under it's canopy. Even though the magic was thick in the air the boy had been right. The magical defense of the sleeping forest had faded away.

The boy's father had been right about the forest as well. The mystical energies of the forest pulsing like a heartbeat, a dying heartbeat.

Two years ago the magic of the forest had been so thick it nearly suffocated Cloud even while using the Lunar Harp. The magic no longer pressed against the traveler but was stretching itself thin in an attempt to cover the old territory.

Passing though the forest Cloud sensed many areas that were completely void of magic. In month or so the forest would fade away another causality in the war between the Planet and Jenova.

The magic that was left resided in select trees that glow with an unearthly light and as tiny spheres of light that weaved through the trees like over sized fireflies. It was an eerie reminder of what could happen to the children if he did not stop Jenova.

Even without it's protective magic the forest keep a revenant silence. The loud roar of the Fenrir's engine seemed oddly mute to Cloud as he traveled though the forest. It felt as though he was riding through an ancient church rather than a forest.

The silence was more unnerving than comforting to the mercenary. At an undetermined point ahead of him Cloud could feel that the voices had stopped.

The pause disturbed him because they where still far away from the call of Jenova. There was little doubt in Cloud's mind where their destination was. The pull was almost unbearable for him. He could only image want it most be like for someone actually obeying Her. They would not have stopped for anything that was unnecessary for Her survival.

Giving the circumstances he assume they were planning an ambush for him. The thick forest would grant excellent cover for an ambush.

The advantage of being about to hear the voice was fading like the surrounding forest's magic. Cloud could detect the voices but it had become impossible for him to sense more than their general location. The call of Jenova rang so loudly in his mind he could barely focus on the voices.

Cloud was not worried about being unable to locate them directly. This was hardly the first time he had been ambushed in his life. Before he had been able to locate the enemy by using his mako enhanced senses and past experience.

The voices themselves were far more troubling than their location. Now that he was closer to the voices he was able to make out three distinct voices. Even with the call of Jenova clouding his perception Cloud could sense they were powerful.

Their true power he was still unable to sense but instinctively he knew he could match them individually. The fact that he knew this with such surety was deeply disturbing. The mere fact that he was able to detect them was troubling but now he was able to tell more than just locating. Sephiroth had been able to do such things.

Cloud jerked his head violently forcing that thought away. Thinking such things would only cause pain and confusion that would interfere with his ability to rescue Marlene. Those thought were for another time. Or not at all, Cloud wished silently.

They were together now and fighting them as a group would be difficult if impossible. Knowing the odds Cloud had derived a possible plan of action. It was childishly simple grab Marlene and run.

He planed on taking Marlene to Bone Village and sending her away on one of the ships. Traveling on a ship alone was not safe for a small child but it was the safest option Cloud could think off. He would then find some way to divide the voice so he could take them out one at a time.

The plan was flawed but it was the only way he could possible defeat them with the resources he had available. A head on confrontation would be suicide. Dying now was not an option. There would be no one left to kill Jenova.

A small part of him began wishing that the others where there. If they were he could stand a chance against all of the voices at once. Someone would be there to take Marlene back to safely.

Ruthlessly he pushed away those unproductive thoughts.

The others could not be here. Cloud was just as dangerous as any of the voices. Any moment he could be subjected to another delusion.

He had no idea what he was capable of during the extent of the delusion. The bruise around his throat was evidence enough that he would react violently. Anyone near him was at risk. He could risk his only friends like that especially not Tifa. Out of all of them she would want to be by his side.

Even without the delusion Cloud was dangerous. The presence of Jenova was so overpowering he was not sure he would be able to keep full control over himself. Struggling to protect them from him would cause him to become distracted. In order for him to kill Her he would need his full focus. For better or for worse he would fight this battle alone.

_Their here, _the presence of the voices seemed to solidify in front of Cloud causing him to jerk his head forwards. The headlight of the Fenrir cut through the darkness of the forest illuminated three young men standing on the road ahead of them.

They were not planning on ambushing him like he had originally thought. Maybe they realized they would not have to in order to kill him Cloud thought grimly as he looked at them.

The distance and the poor lighting made it difficult for Cloud to make out their features. They did seem much younger than he had expected.

He smiled darkly to himself as he realized he had not even thought about what they would look like. They had always been the voices. Cloud had never considered giving them faces or personally. The impersonally keep him for dwelling on the thought that he could have been one of them.

Cloud felt his stomach twist they were wearing black leather like... Focus; tearing his gaze away from the men he scanned the area for Marlene. There was no trace of girl. There went his plan. He would not be able to grab and run if he could find the person he was trying to grab. The only thing he could do now was improves.

As Cloud drew nearer to the men the two taller the men raised their arms revealing that each was armed with a wicked looking pistol. Without warning they opened fire.

Cursing his lack of foresight Cloud swerved slightly dodging their first storm of bullets. Unlike Cloud's normal opponents they did not continue blindly shooting at the mercenary.

The longhaired one took aim and fired a single shoot directly at Cloud's head. There was on time for Cloud to consciously react to the well-placed shot. His mako-enhanced reflexes kicked in forcing Cloud to jerk his head in an attempt to dodge. The reaction had been enough to save him from having his head blow off. The bullet had gone flying by his face almost grazing his left cheek.

The only way he was going to survive was to keep them from shooting at him. He was sure his reflexes would not save him from another shot like that. A risky plan began to form in his mind as he continued heading towards them.

Accelerating the Fenrir to its max speed Cloud began a collision course towards the smallest of the men. The same way Cloud know of their power he know that the smallest was the group's leader. Taking him out would hopefully disorientate the other two giving Cloud a slight advantage.

Using his left hand he hit the trigger to unlock his swords. The blade holders fanned out from the side of the bike as a pair of dark wing. He reached to the side grabbing the closes hilt keeping his eyes on the targets.

When he and the Fenrir were five feet away from the group Cloud leap off his bike. The Fenrir continued faithfully forwards on a collision path with the leader.

Landing in a crotch Cloud spun around raising his broad sword in front of him like a shield to block any incoming gunfire.

There was a crash of metal against his sword but it was not from a bullet. Looking up slighting he could see a two bladed katana pressed against his larger sword. The man who was wielding the sword seemed impossible strong. The katana was actually forcing Cloud's sword down.

Using his full strength Cloud forced the katana and its welder away from him. Without hesitation he jumped to his feet raising the broad sword into an attack position. Despite all his training Cloud froze in shock as he stared at the katana welder. Cold fear began to spread though his mind.

Standing right in front of him was the young man who had attacked him at the outer city. That was not possible Cloud's mind scream as his terror full control of his mind paralyzing him to the spot.

It had been a delusion he could not have had a delusion of a real person. If he was really was Sephiroth real. The question spun around his head nothing he could think of would force it away.

Jenova was one thing but Sephiroth. Cloud had never imaged he had failed so miserable before. The one person he had ever set out to kill was still alive. Was his whole life nothing more than a waste?

The man smiled sly as he watched the conflict raging across Cloud's face. "Big brother you don't need to fight us put your sword down we're all friends." With the smile still on his face the man nodded backwards to his two companions.

Despite the terror that was paralyzing him Cloud felt his eyes look past the man. Jenova call began to rage louder than before his mind was to confused to realize the change. Unnoticed icily fingers began to grip his mind.

Eye wide with disbelief Cloud could only stared at the two men standing behind their leader. The one on the left was the most terrifying. All Cloud's fears seemed to be realized he was looking at Sephiroth. _Please be a delusion. _

That is not Sephiroth. The terror lessened slightly as Cloud realized the man was far to young to be the General. Another piece of evidence against him was the gun he had tightly gripped in his hand. Sephiroth never used guns.

Even knowing the man was not Sephiroth Cloud could not look at him for fear he would change into the General. Cloud forced himself to look at the other man. They both could not be Sephiroth his mind reasoned.

This man had a striking resemblance to Sephiroth. The differences between him and the General where far more pronounced than the other two men. Even forcing himself to only see the differences Cloud could not free himself from the terror gripping his mind.

Question he could not begin to answer continued pounding into his mind. Where these clone? They could not be. Sephiroth clones where like Cloud. Cloud did not look like Sephiroth.

What caused his mind the most confusion and terror was what the leader had called him. Big brother. Cloud was not there brother that was impossible. None of the other clones called him brother. They looked like they could be Sephiroth's brothers but not his.

In his mind he began chanting he was not like them, he was not like Sephiroth. Cloud's breath quickened as his mind came up with a possibility he had not considered. The image of him holding the Masamune erupted in his mind. Was he Sephiroth?

_No_, he tried to push the image of the curse blade out of his mind. It stayed there dancing across his eyes taunting him.

_I am not turning into him_. Cloud tried to shout defiantly to his rebellious thoughts but it came out as nothing more than a weak plead. _You know it's true_, a part of him whispered in the chaos, _Sephiroth's dead you're the replacement. _

"There's no reason for us to fight we're all on the same side." The young man's voice cut though the dark chaos soothing Cloud's panic mind. An odd sort of peace began to form in Cloud's mind as everything became wonderfully numb. The screams of Jenova became nothing more than a bad memory than was fading away.

Far away Cloud noticed that he was lowering his broad sword. He did not care. Being empty like this brought more peace than anything else in life. Maybe he would be able to just fade away.

_What are you doing! _A foreign voice shouted in Cloud's mind snapping him out of the trance. Realizing what was happening Cloud raising his sword in a defensive position. They were trying to control him like Sephiroth.

_Like Sephiroth_, the thought echoed in his mind along with all his fears. This time Cloud drew on his full strength pushing them away to the furthest corner of his mind. The voice where ever it had come from had given him the time he needed to recollect his mind.

Saving Marlene and kill Jenova were the only important thing right now nothing else matter.

"No we're not." Cloud's vision blurred slightly as the call of Jenova returned full force nearly blinding him with pain. It felt as though his soul was being ripped in two. Half of him wanted to go the other half was trying desperately to fight.

Stumbling slightly under the mental pressure Cloud focused his mind back on the mission. He had to stay in control if he lost it again he might not come back.

The swordsman shrugged slightly clearly unimpressed with Cloud. "If that's the way you want to play." Then he was right in front of Cloud bringing is katana down to chop the mercenary in half.

The next thing Cloud realized was that he was blocking the slimmer blade with his broad sword. He could not even remember blocking the attack.

Knowing the younger man's strength Cloud once again forced the katana off the broad sword. Trying to keep the younger man on the defensive Cloud attempted to charge him. The attempt failed as Cloud was forced to dodge a bullet to his midsection. He had forgotten about the other men.

The swordsman gave Cloud a playful smile and took a step backwards. That was confusing why had not he gone in for the kill when he had the change. A blur of glowing blue came flying at Cloud's head.

_Their playing with me_, Cloud thought as he dodged to the left barely avoiding the attack. Looking up Cloud saw that his new opponent was the larger of the men. He had tried to knock Cloud's head off with a strange glowing claw on his left arm.

Using all of his speed Cloud dodged another head shout from the man. Where they all so impossible fast, Cloud had a SOLDIER body and he could barely keep up with them. Even Sephiroth had not been this fast.

The man punched again this time he aimed at Cloud's midsection at a speed that Cloud's eyes could barely follow. There was no time to move out of the way. As his only defense Cloud raised his sword to shield himself from the attack.

There was a large crash as the fist connected with the broad sword the force sending Cloud flying though the air. The mercenary had no chance to recover as his body was slammed into the top of a surrounding tree. With such force that it shattered the top of the tree.

Pain seared through his body as his vision went black. He had a brief feeling off falling before he crashed into the hard ground under him.

The pain from slamming into the tree seemed to double as Cloud sat or laid he was not aware enough to be sure. Somewhere close by Cloud felt one of the voices coming towards him.

Realizing that he was not in any condition to stand Cloud tried to blink the darkness out of his eyes. His vision cleared slightly and he was able to see the forest floor he was sprawled out on. There glittering in the faint light was his sword.

Cloud tried to groan but it the attempt seen a whole new chores of pain through his injured body. The sword was completely intact at least a yard away from him. His only defense was to far away.

"Well big brother I don't think you're really to play, yet." The leader's voice came from over head of him but Cloud could not move his head to be sure.

The sound of metal swishing though the air came to his ears. This was it. He had screwed up again this time for the last time. _Sorry Tifa_.


	7. Mother May I?

Disclaimer: Advent Children is owned by Square-something. This is a non-profit work only for entertainment purposes.

Chapter 7

Mother May I?

The pavement shook from the combined fury of the creatures' growls. Driven purely by intense, Tifa roughly grabbed Yuffie's wrist. Turning away from the beasts she broke into a sprint dragging along the paralyzed girl into the desolate street.

Staying to fight such a magnitude of monster would be impossible for the small party. To stay would risk the lives of her friends, something Tifa would never do.

The only practical option available was to flee. It was equally impossible as fighting but there was at least a chance they could loss the monster in many back alleys of Midgar. With any chance the creatures would divide enough for them to take on independently if possible.

Several large thuds came crashing behind the fleeing women as the beast began the chase. With new urgency Tifa picked up her pace trying desperately to remember the fast way to get from here to the Highwind. The roar of their stalkers was hindering her concentration.

There was one positive effect from the beasts' noise. After hearing the sound of beasts landing Yuffie's survival instinct kicked back into full force awaking the ninja from her stupor. Without hesitation Yuffie ripped her wrist out of Tifa's grasp completing the action with a growl of disgust.

Despite the circumstances Tifa allowed herself a slight smile of amusement for her young friend's action. It was nice to know that no matter what some things would always remain the same.

Now that Yuffie was able to fend for herself Tifa began to check on her other friends. She turned her head to glance behind her almost gasping at what she saw.

A few short yards behind them were a virtual flood of monsters. They were all rushing towards the women headless of anything else in their path. Through the endless sea of brown and green there was a sharp contrast of bright red. Focusing in on it Tifa could make out the form of Red heading in her direction. Using the grace of his large predator body Red was able to bound though the ranks of the monster with ease.

His movements reminded Tifa of a film she had seen long ago where a lion made its way completely though a herd of wild Chocobos to kill a single young Chocobo.

_I'm the Chocobo in this_, she thought comforted that Red was going to join her and Yuffie in their flight. As she watched Red she noticed that the beast paid no attention to Red cutting through their mass.

From what she could determine she and Yuffie were the soul target of the creatures' attention. The fact was hardly surprising to the martial artist. Compared to her feline friend Tifa and Yuffie were the perfect prey.

The two women were much slower and far less agile than Red. In all Tifa's adventures she had always observed that predatorily monsters would normally attack the weaker and less mobile in the group. The weak were easier to subdue allowing the monster to eat and run without much of a fight.

Not only did the women have that factor playing against them but there was also the matter of Yuffie drawing the monster attention to them. Her movement had been the trigger for the monster to unleash their full attack.

Tifa could place no real blame on the ninja even if she had wanted to. It was apparent the monsters were planning on attack no matter what anyone did.

It was strange that the chase was the only way the monsters acted like normal monster. Tifa did not put any more thought into the monster strange behavior. It would not help her and her friends survive this.

Positive that Red was fine Tifa turned her attention to checking on the Turks. Less than a year ago she would have never imagined she would have ever been concerned for the Turks. Things had changed so radically since then. It was ironic to think she had actually become good friends with two of them.

Narrowing her eyes she attempted to find some trace of the two dark suited men. There, though the beasts bodies she could see a distinctively familiar pair of dark shades, Rude. In fact, all she could see of the silent man was his shades.

"Get to the Highwind!" She shouted as loudly as her lungs would allow her, even with her effort she could barely hear her voice over the noise the beasts were creating. There was no way on the Planet Rude would possible be able to hear her over the distance.

Hearing her or not the man nodded slightly or it appeared like a nod. She had a difficult time telling for his shades completely disappeared after the quick movement.

It had to be a nod, she told herself. Rude was a Turk surely they would have trained him in the skill of lip reading. He would get Reno, who she had no sign of despite his striking hair color, and make it to the Highwind. All she could do now was hope for their safety.

There was nothing else she could do for her friends so she turned her attention back to running. Worry tore though her heart as she looked towards the still empty street. She could not allow herself to worry for them. They were Turks they had lived though far worse than this.

The only people Tifa need to worry about were those she could help, namely herself and Yuffie. The Turks could handle themselves, "Just like Cloud," she whispered the hollow reassurance to herself.

Trying to keep her thoughts clear of a certain spiky haired man Tifa looked to her right to see how Yuffie was doing. Tifa was impressed to find that Yuffie was not running directly beside her. The small ninja was a pace ahead of the martial artist the girl speed was increasing with ever stride.

It took little effort for Tifa to catch up to Yuffie. Trying to spot their friends in the crowd had slowed Tifa down considerable, causing her to fall behind. Still the girl had greatly improved over the last year.

As Tifa matched pace with Yuffie the woman flashed the girl a brief smile. The smile was one of approval but all she got from Yuffie was a look of pure annoyance.

Yuffie had been trying to out race her. Tifa discovered once again amused by the ninja's actions. It appeared that Yuffie had continued her training but until she took her train more seriously than Tifa took hers the older woman was always going to win.

They made their way through the complex streets of Midgar without any complications. The sound of the pursuing beast kept them then from even considering slowing down.

It would not be long until they made it to the Highwind. According to her memory of this section of Midgar it would only take around five minutes for them to make it to the outer city. From there it would take even less time for them to get to the Highwind.

They were almost home free so why had not the creatures caught up with them. Judging from the speed the first monster had exhibited Tifa was surprised the others had been able to catch up to them.

The behavior was curious but Tifa did not dare look back to see what could be happening. A moment's hesitation could be all it took for the monsters to catch up. It was sufficient enough for her to know that something was holding back the beasts.

Tifa was merely grateful something was keeping the beasts from catching up to them. If the chase continued at its current rate Tifa and Yuffie would be able to reach the safety of the Highwind unhindered.

Bright sunlight began spilling into the narrow confides of the alley as the side street merged into one of Midgar's main streets. Tifa's eyes widen in terror unwittingly she had lead the army of monsters into one of the most populated residential sections in Midgar.

During the business hours the streets would have been barren but it was the end of the business hours. The streets were filled with hundreds of people. There were exhausted adults returning home from a long day at work, along the streets happy children played games all unaware of the threat only meters away.

The only thing Tifa could do was stare at the happy crowd and despair. She had been so caught up in the flight. She had not even considered who would be along their path to the Highwind. Foolishly, her only thoughts had been on selecting the fastest path. Now she could only regret her choose.

The monsters behind her would fall on these people like wolves on lambs. It just was not possible for her and Yuffie to fight off all the monsters coming. Attempting to warn the people would fail as well. There simple was not enough time to get all these people off the street before the monsters attacked.

The world froze for Tifa as she realized that she was no longer moving forwards. Her hesitation had not been merely mentally but physical as well.

Before Tifa could even consider moving the air directly behind her stirred from movement. With agonizing slowness Tifa turned her head to face death. Her crimson eyes lock on a pair of mindless animal eyes narrowed for the kill, only an inch away. _Be strong, Cloud_.

"Tifa," A feral growl came from her right. Less than a second latter Red's large form slammed into the side of the attacking monster knocking it away from the woman.

Effortlessly, Red landed in a defensive stance in from of the woman growling savagely at the beasts. Screaming erupted from behind Tifa as people began to notice the beasts. Tifa could feel waves of panic coming from the people as they tried to flee from the beasts. There was not enough time for them all to live but at least now some would.

Much to Tifa's confuse the beasts had stopped running. They stared at Red as though he was some type of wall obstructing their path.

Like everything else about these creatures this new action was strange. Tifa did not even try to determine the reason as she tried to decide what to do.

Fighting was the most illogical choose but could she leave these people to their deaths. She was not naïve enough to believe that whatever was holding the creatures back would be permanent.

If Tifa and the others could hold off the beasts for only a few minutes it might give the citizens a chance. Her heart twisted knowing that no matter what people would die.

The chose was tearing her insides apart. More than ever she wished that Cloud was standing beside her telling her everything would be alright. That no matter what chose she made things would be all right.

"Tifa, run. I can hold them off." Turning her eyes away from the horde of monsters Tifa stared at the back of Red with disbelief. They could leave him to these monsters.

"We won't leave you." Yuffie defiantly shouted out Tifa's thoughts even though panic could clearly be heard in the young ninja's voice.

The girl was standing beside Tifa trying her best to keep a strong fighting stance even though her hand holding her small collection of shuriken was shaking. The cold hard truth filled Tifa as she looked at Yuffie. Staying was not an option. In her current panic Yuffie was not going to be any help.

Leaving Red to fight the beast alone was the best option. Out of the group he was the best suited to fight the creatures, he could survive these as long as Tifa and Yuffie were not here slowing him down.

Tifa's heart ached. She could not just leave a friend behind. How had Cloud been able to make the tough choose during their quest to save the planet?

The beasts began to move ever so slightly. From the expression in their yellow eyes Tifa could tell that they had come to their decision. The lapse in the chase was about to end.

"Tifa, Yuffie **run**!" There was no more time for indecision. Red lowered his stance preparing to meet the beasts when they attacked.

No matter how strongly she wanted Cloud, he was not here. As one the beasts seemed to mirror the large red cat's actions as they prepared to spring. These choose was for her to make, for her to regret.

Spinning around Tifa clammed down a strong hand on Yuffie's wrist this time making sure her grip was to tight for the ninja to break. Yuffie would not leave Red willingly so Tifa would take the chose out of girl's hands.

The martial artist began to run, jerking an enraged ninja behind her. "Good luck, Red." Unwilling to look back Tifa shouted out what she hoped was not her last goodbye to her friend.

Red growled but whether it was to her or the beast Tifa could not say. The oddest seemed impossible for her friend but she would not allow herself to think negatively. Red would survive they would all meet up together.

Tifa's thoughts were interrupted as Yuffie attempted to rip her hand out of Tifa's tight grasp. Maybe if Yuffie had trained more it would have been possible but as it was Tifa was the stronger of the two and her grip stayed.

"They're going to kill him." Yuffie shouted at the martial artist in rage as the girl tried dragging her feet to slow their pace. The attempt was completely in vain.

Tifa was using her full strength, which was more than enough to drag an unwilling ninja along at a reasonable pace. If Yuffie tried something cleverer Tifa would pick the girl up and carry her to the Highwind.

Tifa could not help the people in the path of the monsters, she could not help Red, Cloud might not allow her to help him, but she could help Yuffie. No matter what the girl did or tried Tifa would save her. She had to.

Still she understood the girl's resistance because it rang though her heart as well. Tifa turned her head slightly meeting the ninja's accusing brown eyes. The look in her young friend's eyes cut into Tifa's heart but she would let it show.

"Red is the only one who has a chance of defeating those monsters. We would only slow him down." Tifa expressed her meaning in more than words as Tifa let the conflict raging in her heart and mind play out across her face.

After spending what seemed like an eternity studying Tifa's face Yuffie's eyes softened considerable. "Right Red's the 'only one'. Please you just wanted me to skip out on some action."

A wave of sweet relief rushed though Tifa taking a good deal of strain off of her heart. She would never have imagined that Yuffie of all people would have comforted her twice in one day.

"I am sorry." A smile beamed on Tifa's face as she felt her confidence returning. She would not worry about things she could do nothing about. Worrying would only keep her from being able to find Cloud and save Marlene. She would be strong for them.

With a causal wave Yuffie dismissed the apology. "This just means you owe me." Tifa shook her head at the response refocusing her attention on the streets ahead.

Doubt tugged on her heart but she brushed it away. This was just like when the plate fell, it was not her fault. She had tried her best that was all she was able to do.

After they found Cloud and Marlene they would go looking for who had sent those creatures after them. That was for later though now all she needed to worry about was getting herself and Yuffie out alive.

_**Are you coming home?**_

_Who?_

In the purest form of savage fury Loz kicked one of the surrounding trees. A cloud of dust and splinters erupted from the landing spot of the kick.

The brutal attack sent a sickening shiver though the length of the tree. Despite the gaping hole the kick had inflicted to the tree's trunk, the stupid thing continued to stand in defiance.

Loz raged, as he was yet again unable to kill some worthless creature. First it had been that arrogant Lockhart woman. Then those two, what had Yazoo called them...Turks.

Loz scowled as he remembered how he had misjudged the thickness of the wall he sent them flying into. Instead of splattering against the wall like the insects they were, they simple went straight though, surviving without any injury.

Final a pathetic tree was standing in the way of his kills. He could have killed those humans with no effort. If he had not been forced to collect that worthless human child, the master did not even need.

Kadaj had dared reprimanded him for his careless treatment of the child. It was not as though Loz was not treating the way she should be treated. Humans were beneath them.

What did Kadaj know? The rage that always burned though Loz's mind increased to a blinding shade of red, as he thought about his smiling brother.

Kadaj rarely accompanied him and Yazoo on missions. The master always had something special for Kadaj to do, leaving the petty work for Loz. Kadaj never had to soil himself by dealing with the human brats or unworthy opponents.

Snorting in disgust, Loz turned his head to the right glaring at the thick forest obscuring his view of his oldest brother and youngest brother.

Some distance away Kadaj was wasting their time toying with their older brother. That was Kadaj's nature to play ridicules head games. The three of them could have easily overcome their older brother but Kadaj wanted his fun.

Loz fully appreciated the concept of playing with inferiors but he did not have, or wanted, the patience for Kadaj's head games. All he wanted now was a good kill or to return to base to be rid of the brat.

A smirked crossed Loz face it was possible for him to accomplish both objectives. It was not the master's order for them to allow Kadaj to engage older brother alone. It was Kadaj's.

Kadaj was hardly the master his commands meant nothing. The little ambush they had set for their older brother had been Kadaj's plan, once again not the master. Loz had only gone along with his little brother's because he thought he would have a chance to have his way with older brother. Instead Kadaj had him sitting out on the sidelines.

Not anymore, Loz was hardly afraid of his younger brother. In truth he wanted Kadaj to try and stop him. Loz had never cared that his younger brother was the master's favorite he had always waited for the opportunity to beat that smile off Kadaj's face.

Adjusting the Duel Hound in anticipation Loz began to muse over his older brother's condition. At first his older brother had not seemed like the warrior the master had described.

Loz had been quite displeased that his older brother had been so pathetic. All this time he had been expecting so sort of a challenge. The disappointment abruptly faded the moment older brother had dodged Loz's first attack.

When his older brother had been able to block the Duel Hound Loz had almost been impressed. Their older brother was nothing more than a weak failure by their standards but he was a worthy opponent, compared to a human. A fight between them would at least have some of the challenge Loz had been craving for.

Loz began heading in the direction of his brothers, idly wondering if the blow from the Duel Hound had incapacitated his older brother.

It did not matter. A fight with Kadaj would give older brother plenty of time to recover for his duel with Loz. Together both fights should not take much more than five minutes. Then Loz would be rid of the brat.

Completely focused on the upcoming conflict it took a moment for Loz to notice that a violent tremble had run though the forest around him. Before he could fully comprehend what had happened a loud boom erupted from the forest behind him followed by a burst of heat and flame.

"What the-"

_**Mother misses you.**_

Mom... 

Yazoo leaned causally against one of the forest many dying trees, to all appearances completely oblivious to the destruct that had been rout against the forest.

The Planet would soon deprive this tree of life like it had done to the majority of the other trees in the forest. The magical energies they product could be used by the Planet to mend it's injuries, since that the flow of it's healing power had been interrupted.

With his limited knowledge he was not quite certain what was blocking the Planet's healing energies. The master had revealed only enough information for Yazoo to derive that it was part of the master's grand plan.

The source of the Planet's plight was of no important to him. The only thing that interested him now was the cause of the explosion that had irradiated a small portion of the forest.

In order to find the source of the explosion he had closed his eyes focusing his attention on the sounds of the surrounding forest.

There was no sound of note in his range of hearing. Loz's was cursing with intense anger and confusion but Yazoo did not consider such noise of any worth. The only thing shouting in such a manner accomplished was to alert the enemy of your state of mind.

The normal inhabits of the forest had long since fled from the presence of he and his brothers. It was strange to think that the less evolved beast were wiser in comparison to the humans, those professed to be on the higher end of the evolutionary cycle.

The beasts fled in terror from an unnatural foe while humans would foolishly attempt it engage them, to prove their twisted need to display loyalty and courage. Along the evolutionary track humanity had loss the survive instincts of their primitive ancestors.

Bloodlust rose in Yazoo as he could practical hear the screams of agony from the source of the explosions. See the bright red blood flowing across the tranquil forest floor. The coppery tastes of the blood hung on his tongue. There was only one group of humans who would have set the explosives.

Though the members of AVALANCHE had been terrorists for a time it was out of their character to engage an enemy in such an indirect fashion. The intensity of their actions had been too weak to for them to be considered true terrorists.

They would consider an attack of this type beneath them. There was one organization on the Planet that was infamous for such deceptive tactics.

_The Turks_, Yazoo savored the name as it rolled though his mind inciting the bloodlust to rise far beyond the level of his control.

A smirk twisted across his usually masked face as he considered his enemy. It was impossible for the person to be his red haired Turk. Yazoo could care less as long as the person was part of the organization.

All sources on the Turks spoke of a close bond between the members. The savage murder of one Turk would have a negative affect on the mentality of the other Turks.

Killing this Turk would begin the tortures he had planned for his Turk. Yazoo planned on spending a great deal of time making certain the red haired Turk forever regretted his realization of Yazoo's moment of weakness.

Seeing big brother in person had purified Yazoo of his terror of the man's power. Kadaj had used the smallest portion of his mental prowess to subdue their older brother.

Even without Kadaj's manipulations, it was clear that big brother was barely able to keep any level of control over his own mind. The concept of him being about to control Yazoo was idiotic.

For unknown reasons the master wanted to keep the Lockhart woman alive, for a time at least. Whatever the master reasons were it was irrelevant at this point.

The only thing that was important was that Yazoo had freed himself from the fear that had been restraining him from his most enjoyable activity. Now that it was gone his mind was filled with pleasurable thoughts of painful deaths instead of that crippling fear.

Despite his efforts to fully indulge in his bloodlust a tiny thread of doubt stirred in the back of his mind. His bloodlust kept his mind from fully examining the doubt.

Thoughts of the hunt and the kill swarmed in Yazoo's mind as he opened his eyes. The explosion had been from behind what was his prey's plan. Yazoo firmly believed it was some type of distraction but to what end. The Turks had no love of Cloud.

The world shook as a bone shaking blast erupted to Yazoo's left. The left was as good as a direction as any. The longer the chase lasted the longer the terror of his prey.

A familiar buzzing began to sound in Yazoo's mind painful jarring at his thoughts. Placing a hand against his temple he tried to ward away the sound.

It was as erratic as the time in the church. Yazoo sank to his knees clutching his head trying to drive the sound out of his mind.

The thing hovered in his mind drilling though his thoughts causing a gasp of terror to escape his mouth. This thing could not be the master.

Was it big brother?

_**Of course, it's me.**_

_You're dead. _

_**Don't be silly honey I right here.**_

A sheet of silver fell across Kadaj's face as he tilted his head in the direction of his longhaired brother, relishing the distress coming for Yazoo.

The unadulterated terror overwhelming his brother's mind sent a pleasant tingle along the length of Kadaj's spine. It was a pity Yazoo was final comprehending the power their older brother had over him.

Yazoo's discovery would do the longhaired man little good if thing went Mother's way. Smiling slightly to himself with a touch of long past bitterness Kadaj reconsidered his thought. Mother always had her way.

"Messing around where you don't belong." As always his tone was playful as he turned his attention away from his brother to the man he was crouching beside.

A skilled reader of body langue would have been able to pick up an underlining hint of pity despite the playful tone. Pity for who was a mystery he would not allow himself to uncover.

It was impossible for one such as he to fully understand Mother's ways but he felt that this was something that would please her. While Cloud's abilities were wild, compared to Kadaj's own, they far surpassed the meager powers of Yazoo and Loz.

_Maybe my own_, Kadaj thought with an amused grin as he felt a familiar presence brushing at the edge of him mind. Only mother was able to pierce the shields guarding his mind that Cloud was able to reach so far was impressive.

Mother's plan relied heavily on the powers Cloud Strife had yet to fully discover, even though his subconscious seemed to be making good use of them. Cloud's subconscious seemed to be just as self-destructive as his conscious mind.

What an interesting dilemma, Kadaj mused sure that the conflict was doing more to assist Mother's cause than to hinder it, even though Kadaj had a feeling that hinder was the subconscious intent.

"You're just going to drive yourself crazy." The man lying on the soft grass did not respond to the comment. The only indication he might be awake was the faint glow of pale blue radiating from his eyes. Smiling mischievously to himself for Kadaj's audience was otherwise engaged Kadaj took his first good look at big brother.

During their brief combat with each other Kadaj had not had the chance to closely examine his older brother. If looks were the only standard then Cloud would have been considered very impressive. His physical build was very small very much like Kadaj's own.

If Kadaj had not known his brother's age it would have been very difficult for him to judge. Cloud's small build made him seem younger than he was. His pretty boy face did not help the age judgment either. Even though Cloud was a few years older than Kadaj they looked to be around the same age.

Cloud was lying mostly on his left side facing his fallen sword only a mere yard away. Despite Kadaj's closeness his older brother made no effort to reach for the sword. The reason for his inactivity had two parts.

The first most obvious to the naked eye was that Cloud had been severely injured by Loz. The force of the blow coupled with being slammed into the tree and the fall had broken and bruised the majority of big brother's body.

Due to the mako in his body Cloud was recovering from the injuries at a superhuman rate. In a few minutes the brakes would no longer be broken though Kadaj imagined they would still be quite painful. The tree had not been so bless.

One look in big brother's vacant mako eyes was sign enough for the second reason. Big brother was no longer in his own mind.

The chaotic mess of big brother's mind had slipped away from his body. Kadaj could sense Cloud's aura in his own mind as well as his other brothers. There was a good chance it was exploring the region in ways Kadaj was unable.

The cause for his brother's absences from his body was trickier to determine. Inside the mess of big brother's mind Kadaj could detect the subtle hints of Mother's presence. Mother was most likely the reason that big brother had fallen into his current state. Kadaj assumed she was trying to reveal the truth of the situation to him.

As Kadaj continued gaze down on his older brother he felt a spark of kinship. Both of them had so many similarities, unlike Kadaj and his other brothers.

Yazoo and Loz were nothing more than bloodthirsty animals. There was nothing wrong with them in the pure intellectual sense but their emotion and higher reasoning abilities were flawed.

They lacked the refined mental capacity to experience anything but the most base of emotion. Mentally they had developed much like small children despite their age. Mother had the master create them with such flaws to keep them from question their existence.

Big brother just like Kadaj had a completely different mental structure. During his transformation Cloud had been able to retain his higher reasoning skills unlike many of the others that had undergone the same procedure. Mother had always found Cloud's retention fascinating yet annoying.

To serve mother better Kadaj had been granted a similar mental state. Until she recovered from her injuries, Mother required an agent that was able to fulfill her commands without her constant presences. In order to accomplish that Kadaj had to be able to comprehend what mother was and her plans on a rudimentary level.

His brothers with their limited abilities could never comprehend mother, let else her plan. Their purpose was to sever as added muscle for Kadaj.

Which was far better for them, Kadaj ponder thoughtfully as he recalled how horrible to knowledge had seemed when he had first learned of it. There was truth to the saying ignorance was bliss.

It was impossible for him to understand all the complexity of Mother's plan but he had always understood his role in her plan. Never once in his life had he questioned her for without her he would have never existed in the first place. His life was hers to do with as she wished.

There were times though when his mind would rebel against him and wondered if things were different. Times like now.

Would he have followed big brother denying the truth in favor of ignorance? Kadaj imaged that he would never act so foolish. All big brother's resistant against the truth brought him closer to Mother. Big brother's internal conflict was exhausting his mind to the point where it was barely possible for him to resist outside influence.

In big brother's current state it took little effort for one as weak as Kadaj to manipulate him. For someone as powerful as mother, controlling Cloud was nothing more than mere child's play. While big brother slept Mother was likely crushing the last of his rebellious thought.

It was amusing in a tragic way that big brother believed he could still defeat mother, denying reason for fantasy. Kadaj's fanaticism for mother could be considered by some to be very similar to his older brother's denial. Thoughts like that were very inappropriate. His life was for mother.

Hesitantly he began brushing through Cloud's sweat soaked blond hair with affectionate. Kadaj had never consider Yazoo or Loz his real brothers but with Cloud he felt a brotherly bond.

The feeling was unlike any other he had ever experienced in his life. It was not as disturbing as he always assumed it would it was almost comforting. The world seemed less empty than before.

A shiver ran though big brother's body as his essence returned to it's resting place. Kadaj could still feel his older brother's confusion as if it was tangible. Confusion was an emotion Kadaj would never allow himself. _Poor big brother this is all happening to fast for you. _

"Don't worry it will soon be over." Kadaj whispered to his older brother in a soothing tone as he continued stroking though his hair. Soon it would be over for them all.

_Are you?_

_**Come and see for yourself.**_

****The only thing he could see was darkness. Moaning Cloud placed a shaking hand against his forehead trying to clear the chaos in his mind.

Thousands of thoughts swirled in his mind each seemed far more foreign to his mind than the last. The thoughts were of broken images, half spoken sentences, and bright bust of emotion he was unable to find in his own memories.

Which thoughts were from his memories and which were not? They were all coming from inside of Cloud's own mind. Did not that mean they were his?

A sudden chill ran though Cloud's body. Defensively he wrapped his trembling arms around himself in an attempt for warmth.

Those thoughts could not be his. They were filled with a deep enjoyment for causing pain that made him feel physical ill. Only a sadistic monster would have thoughts like that.

_That not me_, he could not be a monster. Desperately he tried to filter though the terrifying thoughts cluttering his mind trying to find thoughts of his own. Thoughts that felt familiar to him that could be him.

Panic sank it's claws deeper into his psyche as he found nothing of himself in the swirling chaos of his mind. _No, no_, his tried to whisper his denial to the world only to have it disappear into the void surrounding him.

He had to exist here in his mind he could not be like those thoughts. His hysterical mind struggled find a reason he was unlike the thoughts.

Cloud, he was Cloud. They were not connection to Cloud. He was Cloud so he could not be one of them.

The comfort from this revelation was short lived as a new terror griped his mind. How had they been able to enter his mind?

The darkness that had been surrounding him began tremble slightly as shapes began to form. The change in his environment began to slowly replaced Cloud's terror with curiosity.

The shapes began to take on forms Cloud could name, trees. There were several trees surrounding him. A forest, he was in a forest. In a very disjointed way Cloud could feel himself walking through the forest. His movements were carefully chosen to avoid making even the slightest sound.

A loud roar filled the air around him. What was that? The sound caused a hint of satisfaction to form in the back of Cloud's mind. Somehow he had caused he havoc that had been unleashed on the forest.

The tiny grip on his good hand tightened slightly causing him a moment of annoyed embarrassment. In confusion Cloud tried to look down at his hand to see who was gripping it. He found that his head was unwilling to move.

What was happening? Instead of being terrified of the lack of control over his body he found himself strangely calm. The fear and confusion he felt only a moment before seemed like a distant notion.

The calm was intoxicating. Cloud could not remember ever feel even remotely near this level of calm. It was very tempting to stay here forever never having to worry again. He could not, there was something important he had to do. What that something was he was having trouble remembering.

His body froze as he saw something lying between the trees only a few yards directly in front of him. Narrowing his eyes he strained to make out the object. None to gentle he pulled the girl behind him to shield her from potential danger.

The object was a person. The person was a man lying on the forest floor in a half twisted position as if he had been trying to reach for something. Looking past the man Cloud could see a massive sword stretched out beside the man.

That was wrong. The sword should have been lying further away. In a distant corner of his mind Cloud could remember seeing the sword glittering in the faint light of the forest right out of his reach. The memory vanished quickly leaving a feeling of uneasiness.

Looking back at the man's body he narrowed his eyes even further. The man's chest was rising and falling at a steady rate. He was still alive. An emotion rushed though him in responds to the observation. Cloud could not quite place a name for the feeling. Relief was the closes word for it but it was not quite right.

In less than an instant the relief was replaced by suspicion as if it had never been. He began to scan the forest for a potential ambush or a trap. There was no movement in the trees surrounding the body. No sounds reached his keen ears. None of his more abstract senses could detect any danger.

This did not bode well. Never before in his experience had he encountered a being he was unable to detect. It was a possibility that was the cause now. It did explain why they had left the man alive.

The only logical reason for leaving behind a living enemy was to use them as bait. That might not be the case here, he further considered. This was not the first time they had worked outside their own pattern of bloodlust. For an unknown reason Tifa had been left alive.

_Tifa, _he knew that name. It was part of Cloud, a very important part. His attempts to identify the name were cut short as he felt the girl peer out from behind him.

The girl gasped in surprise as she saw the man lying on the ground. Going against his instructions the girl shot out from behind him in a mad dash towards the body.

Cloud roughly caught the girl by her arm before she had a chance to take more than a step towards the body. She began to verbal protest. To stop her foolishness he knelt down establishing eye contact with the small child. Internally Cloud recoiled with surprise as recognized the girl.

She was...he could remember her name or who she was. There was something very important about the girl, like the name Tifa. The bright pink ribbon tied in her dark hair stirred memories. He tried to grasp at them but they slipped away.

His mental surprise was not shared with his body. Sternly he stared into the fearful brown eyes of the little girl. "Stay here and be silent."

The little girl frowned as she squirmed in his grasp, trying to look over his shoulder to see the body behind him. Firmly he gripped both of her tiny shoulders forcing her to stand still. "You can come with me as long as you are silent and stay behind him."

Her face brightened as she nodded her head to accept his offer. With a slight nod of his own he stood up. The girl slipped her tiny hand into his. Cautiously, he began to lead her towards the body. He continued scanning the forest expecting trouble of some sort. He should not bother the worse trouble was holding his hand.

He question the girl's sincere. Barely ten minutes ago, she made a similar promise only to break it. There was not enough time for arguing. As long as she remained silent she should not case that many problems.

Knelling beside the body he did a quick visual examination to see what was wrong with his friend. The body was almost as familiar to him as the girl and Tifa but he could place it.

Obediently the girl stood a pace behind him, for now. How long that would last he could not begin to guess. She just had to stand like that for only a few more minutes.

There were no serious injures apparent to the visible eye. Without hesitation he began to do a physical examination to detect if his friend had any none visible injures.

A loud crash of an explosive going off erupted from behind them, very close behind them. They were final coming. With a new sense of urgency he continued checking his friend.

At the end of the examination he concluded that his friend had severe bruising but no breaks. His friend's state of unconsciousness was troubling.

Through out the quick check his friend remained completely still. Even when Cloud pressed against what had to be a sensitive injury. If not for the sound of his friend's breathing he would have believed he was examining a newly killed body. There was no head injury that would have disabled him in such a way. That was not natural.

Another unusual finding was a faint bruise stretching around his friend's neck. Cloud placed a hand against the bruise. For a man who was not easily disturbed Cloud found the bruise very disturbing. The pattern made it appear as though the man had committed the injury on himself.

_What is happening to you? _He looked into the young man's deceptively peaceful face as if it would give him the answers.

_That's wrong._ A fragment of memory played out in his mind. The eyes had been open. This was not the first time he had been looking over the body. Confusion was being to overrun the calm that had been focusing his mind.

He felt his body tense from caution. "Cloud." The voice had come from his mouth but it was not his voice. It was too low and flat to be his voice. Why was a strange voice coming from his mouth? Why was it calling his name?

The calm was completely whipped away returning his mind back to the chaos of before. This was not making any sense. He moved his hand from the body's throat to the body's shoulder shaking it gentle. Terror flared though the confusion as his body began shaking the man even harder.

"Cloud." _That's me. I am Cloud. _How was he here and not in his own body?

_**Silly, you went to the wrong place.**_

_Mom. _

That was the voice the only thing that had remained constant in all the confusion. He had been trying to see her but he had gotten lost. Now that he heard her again he felt himself slipping out of the body.

As if it was about to sense his departure the body began to desperately shake Cloud's body. If Cloud had not felt so light head he would have been worried that it would injure his body.

"Cloud," the voice was starting to sound familiar now Cloud could almost place it in his memory. Worry could be clearly heard in the voice. That was strange but Cloud was not sure why.

The world went white.

"I am so proud, Cloud. You've made in into Shinra." A soft feminine voice pulled him his attention away from something... Cloud's head felt fuzzy as he tried to remember what he had been doing. All the memories in his head blurred together.

Trying to figure out what was happening he opened his eyes. His mother was standing before him looking up at him happiness glittering in her dark blue eyes. Cloud felt his face burn with shame as his mother pulled on the dark blue of his uniform. "So this is a SOLDIER uniform."

Unable to bare her enthusiasm Cloud looked away from her. He did not want to tell her the truth. This was not a SOLDIER uniform but a grunt uniform. He had not made it into SOLDIER.

For the mission he would have to hide his identity from Tifa. She would hate him even more if she found out that he would be able to keep his promise to her. He could lie to Tifa but not his mom. She deserved to know that he had completely wasted his life. All this time he had not been able to write her for fear she would find out about his failure. She had to be worried sick about him. He did not know how she would react but he was going to tell her.

Swallowing hard he forced himself to looked back at his mother. The devotion shining on her face caused him to wince. She was making this so difficult for him. He was not going to fail at this. "I did not-"

Cloud froze as he looked past his mother's small figure to the rest of the room. Pain sparked in his mind as shards of memories crashed into his thoughts. This place should not be here. There was a fire.

The room ignited into flame as the memories danced gruesomely across his eyes. Cloud had been guarding the secret passage in the mansion when Sephiroth had come out. There had been something strange about the man that set Cloud on edge. Worried for his commanding officer Cloud and followed him outside of the mansion.

To Cloud's horror Sephiroth had begun walking right towards Cloud's house. Then the Sephiroth burn it down. Cloud had tried to stop him but he could not. The only part of Nibelheim that had been spared Sephiroth's wrath was the mansion it remained becoming a torture ground for the survivors. Out of the entire town the mansion was the only place that deserved to burn.

There was nothing left of his Nibelheim but ash. Shinra had rebuilt it as part of their cover up but it was not the same. The people that made the town important for Cloud were gone. Tifa had been taken to Midgar while his mother burned along with her home.

Cloud barely noticed the fire dying away. The return of his memories left his mind raw making thinking a very difficult. _This was a dream_.

His mother's brilliant eyes darkened with concern as she watched his plight. "Cloud, honey, what's wrong?" With a mother's gentleness she cupped his face with her soft hands.

The physical contact brought an onslaught of memories with it. All the horrors that he had experienced in Nibelheim rose out of the memories to haunt him.

The Mount Nibel Bridge was shaking underneath him as he uneasily began to cross it. Up ahead was a distraught Tifa completely unaware of him. What was he doing? There was a snap. He started running towards the dark haired girl trying to save her. Before he could reach her the bridge broke sending Tifa falling into the abyss.

Everything was green. It was burning into his skin. It hurt so much. Make it stop.

The voice of the children that used to taunt him rang in his ears. Blood was dripping down his nose. Cloud lay in a painful heap on the ground glaring up at the beefy boy who had tried to break his nose. _Still not strong enough_, Cloud began the painful task of picking himself off the gravel. Next time would be different.

"We're getting out of here." The room spun as the memories washed over him, suffocating him. "You do realize she's dead specimen C. A pity such a beautiful girl would have been a wonderful contribution to the experiment." _Tifa's dead. _

Gasping for air he jerked his head out of his mother's hands. "What's it like returning to your home town? I wouldn't know." He stumbled backwards under the crushing weight of the memories. "So that's the girl what a looker. She's almost as hot as Aeris. Woops...don't tell her I said that." Nothing was clear. _I have to get out of here._

Trying to escape the memories and the dead woman standing in front of him Cloud turned to flee. His mother halted his progress by grabbing his upper arm. "Are you going to running away like you older brother?"

The memories storming in his mind froze as the word brother came out of her mouth. They had called him that. In the forest, they had looked some much like Sephiroth.

With agonizing slowness Cloud began to turn his towards the woman standing behind him. He was terrified by the possible of what was standing there.

From a moment he was looking at his mother. The woman was watching him with a frown of worry on her face and concern still in her eyes.

Then the image of his mother blurred slightly. Her clothing melted away leaving nothing but pale skin. The pale blue of death began to seep across her pale skin until it had infected all of her transforming her into a corpse.

The change in her eyes was the worse of all. Her natural dark blue began to darken to the point where it was impossible for Cloud to tell the differences between her iris and her pupils. He barely noticed the change of color. Unlike the rest of her body, her eyes had not become completely alien. They still shine with the same motherly love he remembered seeing as a boy.

The transformation drove all rational thought out of his mind. Blinded by his terror he tried to rip his arm out of her grasp. Her grip had become supernatural strong making it impossible for him to break.

"There's nothing to be afraid of, my son." He struggled futile against her knowing, despite his inability to reason properly, he had to get away. Latched onto his arm was Jenova, the calamity from the sky.

Everything went away. The terror vanished leaving him feeling oddly empty. Cloud's strength vanished as well making it impossible for him to support his own body. His body swayed dangerously as he attempted to keep standing, trying to stay strong. In his state of weakness his knees gave way despite all his efforts to stand. He fell into the waiting arms of Jenova.

The numbness he was feeling was similar to his experience at the Sleeping Forest. There was one major difference. Before his entire mind had been obscured by her now it seemed only his emotions were affected.

Gentle Jenova enfolded his numb body with her icy arms wrapping him in a mother's embrace. Long forgotten feeling began to stir in Cloud's heart as she rested her head against the top of his.

This was just like what his...without hesitation Cloud forced the feeling away. He had to stay focused. This was just a trick.

"You're not my mother." His voice was nothing more than a harsh whisper that barely reached his own ears. Even though his voice was weak it was completely under his control.

This new numbness gave him at a slight advantage. His thoughts were no longer influenced by the thick terror that caused weakness and confusion. Once again he was too weak to save himself, bitterness tainted his tiny victory. Jenova had to be the cause but why? Was she trying to lull him into a sense of security?

Laughing in a soft musical tone Jenova began combing her dead fingers possessively though his spiky hair. "Silly Cloudy, she gave birth to you but your insides are all mine."

A strange sensation swept over his body as proof of her statement. The sensation was like nothing he had ever felt before. Unlike everything else that he associated with Jenova there was no pain. She had chosen to give him a gentle reminder that her cells were infecting his body.

Cloud was not sure why but the absence of pain was begin to disturb him. Somehow it made it seem as though she was speaking the truth. The feeling seemed to reach ever part of him. Did that mean he had more of her cells in his body than that of his birth mother's?

_She's trying to confuse me_. The majority of the experiments had been performed with mako not Jenova cells. Most of his memories of that time were of floating in the honey-like grip of mako as it burned away his mind. If his body was made up of anything inhuman it would have been mako, he tried to rationalize.

A twinge of doubt tore down his excuses. The truth was that he had no idea of what kind of procedures Hojo had inflicted on him. The few memories he had of his time in Hojo's custody were saturated with pain. His clearest memory was of the harsh green glow that never left him even when his eyes were closed. All his other memories were blurred or had been completely forgotten.

The few less blurry memories were all the ones he need. They were of Zack. Most of the memories were nothing more than the sound of Zack's voice reaching though the pain giving Cloud's sanity something to latch onto. Those were the important memories. The only ones he need.

Cloud had never considered trying to look for information on the experiments. It was likely that some of Hojo's notes had survived. Cloud had always been too afraid to look for them, too afraid that he would remember things that would drive his sanity away. The little information he had uncovered during his time with AVALANCHE had always been enough for him. Now it was not.

Cloud still did not want to remember but doubt was gnawing away as he continued to consider Jenova's words. What if what she said was true? What if he was more monster than human? There had been times especially in the last year when he had thought that way.

He could not allow himself to think like that, not now. There was too much at stake for him to lose himself to his weakness. As long as the blood of the Planet was flowing in his veins he was still human to some extent.

"Nothing to say. Sweetheart you do realize denial isn't attractive." Cloud bite back his answer knowing responding would be playing into her hands. Whatever she said would not make a difference. He was going to save everyone.

Pearls of seemly good natured laughter filled the air. Why was she doing this to me? Cloud wondered silently as she continued stroking thought his hair. What was she gaining by playing the mother figure? Would not it have been easier for her to screw with his head than this trickery? "Your trying so hard to be strong it's very admirable but misplaced. As long as you stay on my side you'll be stronger than you've ever imagined."

"I am not on your side." Growling at the woman Cloud tried his best to slip out of her grip. This was going on much longer than it should have. Despite his efforts his body continued laying in her arms completely unresponsive to his commands.

The situation worsened as the world in front of his eyes became fuzzy. Cloud blinked for a second trying to clear his vision until he realized the futileness of the action. The pull was returning. No amount of blinking would send that away. The blur from in front of his eyes began to slip into his mind casing a hazy over his thoughts. He had to get out of there.

Frozen lips brushed against his forehead giving him a quick butterfly kiss. A shiver ran down Cloud's spine as he continued his vain struggle to move. "Shh, little one, how are you not on my side you're apart of me. Why would you even consider resisting? I am the reason you were able to defeat your older brother. The reason you could save sweet Tifa from falling the final time."

"That's a lie," he whispered no longer trying to escape from her grasp. A familiar buzzing began to ring in his mind draining away any trace of defiance. _It wasn't true wasn't it_?

Before in Nibelheim Cloud had been unable to defeat Sephiroth. He had tried his hardest kill the general only to find out, five years later, he had utterly failed. Sephiroth had not only survived his attack the man had gotten stronger. Then there was Tifa. All the times she had been in trouble he had been unable to save her. Even when he was final able to catch her that last time he had not stayed to protect her. The voices could have killed her.

It was wrong for him to give even the slightest thought to the woman claim but it was all he could think about. If he had not been injected with the Jenova cells what would have happened. Had she given him the power?

"Of course I did, my lamb, I the reason you can hear my other children. There is so much more I can gi-" Sharp pain flared in Cloud's right arm jerking Cloud out of the icy embrace.


	8. Message from the Cetra

Disclaimer: Advent Children is owned by Square-something. This is a non-profit work only for entertainment purposes.

Chapter 8

Message from the Cetra

The moment the women turned to flee the beasts attempted to pursue. Nanaki was prepared for them.

-----

The appearance of the first beast had taken Nanaki completely by surprise. It should have been impossible for a monster of that size to travel so deep into a populated area. There were so many humans on the streets one of them should have been able to see the creature.

Even stranger was how Nanaki and his human companions had detected the creature at the same time. Nanaki was not one to boast but his senses were far superior to any human's. In normal circumstances he was able to locate monsters long before they posed a threat to the group. This creature had been able to sneak up on not just him but his friends. The only way Nanaki could think of something being able to do that was as if it appeared out of thin air. At first he thought such a possibility to be ridicule but now he was not so sure.

The creature continued to confound him when it attempted to attack Yuffie instead of the Turks. It was not uncommon for a monster to attack the group's weakest member, Yuffie in most cases, but the Turks were in a far more vulnerable position. Until the monster had leap over their heads they had been completely unaware of the creature's location.

The creature displayed that it had more than enough speed and strength to gut both of the Turks without giving anyone else a chance to reacted. Instead it attempted to attack Yuffie, the only one who had even seen the creature, giving the rest of the party time to prepare for a counter attack. That action went against the natural instances of all creatures on the Planet, unless the creature's motives were not the kill.

In the libraries of Cosmos Canyon Nanaki had read of creatures that acted in similar manner to this beast. There were story of many different types of legendary beasts that protected the Planet in times of darkness when WEAPONS would be more of a hindrance than assistance.

The creatures were known as MESSENGERS. They were said to be composed of pure mako endowed with attributes that far surpassed those of all the other creatures born from the Planet. The Planet had given control over these legendary creatures to the holy race, the Cetra.

Much to his shame Nanaki had always disbelieved the stories. Even after everything he had seen with Cloud he could not bring himself to believe in the MESSENGERS. The descriptions of beasts were so fantastic that Nanaki could not believe that they were anything more than fairytales for young Cetra children.

The moment Nanaki landed on the creature's back his disbelief became shaky. The creature smelt strongly of unprocessed mako. There were many monsters that Nanaki had previously encountered that smelt of make but none of them compared to this one. Breathing in the monster scent was like taking a whiff of the Lifestream. Such a high concentration of mako should have killed any living being on the Planet.

Nanaki's doubts on the creature's identity vanished after he snapped the beast's neck. The creature revered back to the creature's original form, mako energy.

Grandfather had raised Nanaki never to disbelieve the truth when it was revealed to him no matter his personal feeling. As he stared down at where the beast had been Nanaki felt his mind race trying to prove a logic explanation.

All accounts on MESSENGERS stated that they could only be summoned by the Cetra. Aeris Gainsborough the last of the Cetra had died two years previously. There was no one on the Planet with the ability or knowledge to summon the MESSENGERS.

Even if there had been a member of the Cetra alive it did not explain why the MESSENGER had attacked the group. Not the group but the women. It first appeared that the MESSENGER had been aiming at Yuffie but after landing it went directly after Tifa. Could it be possible that Tifa was the target and not Yuffie? For now it was best to conjunct that the beasts were after both women incase the controller of the MESSENGERS was trying to trick the group.

Following the death of the first an army of MESSENGERS converged upon the group. Like the first these MESSENGERS full attention was focused on the women. During the chaos that followed their attack the beasts completely avoid contact with the Turks and Nanaki.

The group split up the Turks heading in one direction and the former members of AVALANCHE in the other. Headless to the danger Nanaki rushed after his female friends. It was not until he was surrounded on all sides by the MESSENGERS that he realized how rash his actions were.

Moving through the mass of monsters was one of the most unnerving experiences in Nanaki's life. At any moment he was expecting the creatures to turn from their chase and tear him to shreds. His conclusions that either Tifa and/or Yuffie were their targets were proven accurate. The MESSENGERS made no move to hinder his progression. Much to his bewilderment they were actually aiding his progression. The MESSENGERS in front of him moved out of his way allowing him to progress much faster then he could imagine.

Nanaki was not the only one who benefited from the MESSENGERS courteousness. A few bystanders had been on the street completely unprepared for a monster attack. At the sight of the MESSENGERS most of them froze in terror. It appeared to Nanaki that the MESSENGERS would crush the poor humans to death before they could even comprehend what was happening. He had not believed that the beasts would slow their chase to protect the innocent.

Much to his relief, the MESSENGERS proved Nanaki wrong. They once again moved as one to avoid the human obstacles along their path. Some of the MESSENGERS leap over the terrified humans heads while others slowed their pace as they made their way around the humans.

The strangest sight of all was of one of the MESSENGERS picking up a human child by the scruff of the child's neck as if it were a pup. Then the beast carefully carried the child over to a nearby doorstep. Gentle, the MESSENGER placed the child down in the relative safety of the doorstep before it merged back into the herd.

The MESSENGERS actions seemed to add clout to the concept that they were truly the guardians of the Planet. Why else would they protect humans at the expense of their prey?

That just was not possible. Nanaki would not believe that Yuffie or Tifa had somehow aroused the wraith of the Planet. They had been saviors of the Planet. There were times when Yuffie could incite anger in the gentlest soul but even with her flaws she had a good heart underneath her crudeness. And Tifa she had been fighting for the Planet long before Nanaki had even met her.

There had to be another reason for the MESSENGERS to protect the humans. It was possible the thing that had summoned the MESSENGERS wanted to keep the humans alive. Or the MESSENGERS could have an ingrained command that prevented them form harming none targets. It still left the question as to who had summoned the beasts.

At the moment Nanaki did not have the information to come to a logical conclusion on who was controlling the MESSENGERS. For now his efforts would be better put into keeping the MESSENGERS away from his friends.

According to the texts the MESSENGERS had only one weakness. They were controlled by external source but they were granted with a small level of independent sentience. Their sentience was only a little higher than a large cat's but it allowed them to act independent of their controller's will.

Their independents had been implemented into their basic design so it would be possible for their controller to control so many creatures without being mental overwhelmed. The concept was sound but there was one major flaw. It had been proven possible for an individual to distract the MESSENGERS from their goal.

Nanaki planed on using this weakness to give Tifa and Yuffie time to escape from the MESSENGERS. It was a risky proposition depending heavily on information that was centuries old. Information Nanaki was not sure he had recalled properly or that it was correct in the first place. MESSENGERS had only been mentioned in passing in all the texts on the Cetra. It was likely that his plan would be unsuccessful.

If it did work and he was able to draw there attention away from the women there was still a problem. He was curtain he could out run the MESSENGERS but if he did that he would lose their attention. A direct confrontation with the beasts would be foolhardy. On a one on one basic he had a chance to be successfully but against an army there was no chance he could survive.

These concerns were pointless there were no other avenues of action available to Nanaki. This was the only way to save his friends. They had give Nanaki so much he would not let them die. As for his own safety he would have time to revise that portion of his plan on the run.

----

The first MESSENGER broke away from the pack to pursue the women. Nanaki allowed it to leave the confines of the group before he acted. Using his full weight he slammed his body into the beast's left flank sending it hurling into a wall.

The rest of the MESSENGERS swarmed past Nanaki still oblivious to him. _Not for long_, Nanaki thought with a growl. Without hesitation he leapt through the air landing in front of the pack. As his paws touched the pavement he took a clawed swipe at the head beast.

Nanaki continued pressing his assault against the MESSENGERS. Clawing and biting his surrounding opponents, he did everything in his power to keep them from continuing. The struggle, for Nanaki, seemed to last for an eternity. All his efforts were in vain the MESSENGERS were slowly making their way forward, towards Tifa and Yuffie.

Despair began to sink into his heart. He did not have the endurance to hold of the beast much longer. Not enough time had past for his friends to have made it to the Highwind. There had to be something else he could do to save them.

Sharp pain erupted from his abdomen caught him completely off guard. Had he been bite? A new pain bust along his right flank answered his question. They were attacking him.

Never before in his life had Nanaki felt such relief at being the focus of a legion of monster. The pain from his injury had sent a rush of joy though him. His plan had worked he could save the women.

This was all quite amusing in a morbid sort of way. If he was actually able to survive he would have to share his thoughts with Yuffie. He was certain that she could appreciate the humor.

Now that the MESSENGERS attention was focused solely of Nanaki they had begun a single-minded onslaught against him. Using his full strength Nanaki began to forge through the mass of sharp teeth and claws. There sheer numbers worked to his advantage. The beasts were unable to inflict any real damage without hitting each other. The only injuries he had currently received were only flesh wounds.

There limited mental capacities proved to be another sort of weakness. They had not yet realized that their attacks could be more effective if they tried to kill him as a group instead of individuals.

As he continued pressing forwards the mako that created them began to assault his senses. The scent of mako was so thick around him that he was beginning to have difficultly breathing. The green of the creatures surrounding him gave the impression of being surrounded by dull mako. He could almost imagine being trapped in one of those mako tubes in Nibelheim.

The thought was very presumptuous. Even with the MESSENGERS bearing down on him this was not even a taste of what it felt like being soaked in undiluted mako. For someone as strong as Cloud to have been so traumatized by the experience Nanaki could only assumed it far more horrible than anything imaginable.

Cloud, Nanaki felt his eyes go wide as he thought about his missing friend. There was one very important player in the Planet's affairs Nanaki had not considered.

The scent of fresh air forced Nanaki to put his revelation away. He needed to focus on surviving at the moment. A split second latter he pushed his way into the empty streets. Nanaki broke out into a run looking back once to make sure the MESSENGERS were following.

------

Beyond his eyes the red and black world swirled in a crazy, gothic kaleidoscope. Cloud moaned weakly as he was hit in full by the pain and nausea that his body had been experiencing during his lack of awareness. The pain his body had been feeling was nothing compared to what his mind was experiencing.

If his mind had been in proper working order it would have been difficult to put into word the sensations racing though his mind. In his current state it was nearly impossible.

Hundreds of tiny hands were reaching into his mind. Each hand was attempting to pull his mind in their direction. Their efforts made it feel as though Cloud's mind was being stretch across the length of the Planet.

No pain came from the disturbing sensation. Even though Cloud was free of mental pain he was having difficultly thinking. At the edge of his conscious awareness, where the voices laid, thousands of things were moving.

There were smoky shadows dancing tantalizingly closeness to Cloud's own thoughts. At first he tried to ignore them as he tried to clear his mind. Against his wishes his attention kept wandering towards the shadows. As he focused on them Cloud could hear faint whispers coming from them.

The voices taking a new form Cloud guess freighted and fascinated at the same time. Where they change or was he? A shiver ran though him. Trying not to continue thinking along those lines Cloud focused his attention on one of the shadows.

Cloud's awareness brushed tentatively against the shadow. At the contact Cloud's mind was painfully jerked some where else.

Darkness surrounded him. This place he had been here before. He was not given any addition time to examine the location. Indistinct voices scream out from the darkness drowning his thoughts out with their volume. Emotions reach out from the darkness wrapping around his heart.

Panic filled Cloud as the foreign feelings began forcing their way into him. _Stay away_. Pain, anger, fear, and so many others coiled inside him. The emotions the voices were crushing him.

**_Stop!_**

They did. The darkness remained around the stunned Cloud but it remained silent. As Cloud's mind began to calm he discovered that the voices and the emotions were lurking in the surrounding darkness. Things were different this time. They were no longer overwhelming him...they were...waiting for him.

Realization struck Cloud's mind carrying along with it a rush of power like nothing Cloud had every experienced. This place was one of the voices. As long as he was here he could control the voice. Tenderly he brushed his fingers against the all in composing blackness.

Emotions and thoughts swirled against his finger tips as if they were a tangible substance. This was the opportunity for him to discover Jenova's plans. Was this what Aeris meant when she said he know why Jenova wanted the children.

There was not time for him to ponder on the thought. In a far away corner of his mind Cloud could feel the pull slowly returning. He would have to retrieve the information quickly.

Opening his mind to the voice Cloud let the voice's mind flow unhindered into his own. Unlike before he was not overwhelmed by a flood of sensations, the information came to him a steady stream.

With a clinical detachment Cloud began examining the voice's memories for the answers he was seeking. He took a special effort to make sure they did not spill into his own memories. There were far too many problems with his memories to complicate them further.

Even though the voice was no longer overwhelming his mind it was impossible for him to find anything of use. Instead of forming a distinguishable time line the memories were clumped together in a huge disjointed heap. It was like trying to untangle a giant knot. Cloud had no idea where to begin. A slight tug on his mind reminded him of his time limits. There had to be a simpler way.

As long as he was here he could control the voice. It should be possible for him to force it to tell him what he needed to know. How exactly was he going to do that? As he considered his options a sinking feeling began to form in the pit of his stomach.

Was not it wrong for him to even considering controlling the voices. If he did control the voice how would he be different from... Did it matter he had to do this, for Marlene, for Tifa. How could he protect them if he did not know what he was protecting them from?

His rationalization did not completely vanquish his uncertainly. Maybe-maybe he would not have to do any controlling. Just asking the voice might be enough. Closing his eyes Cloud quieted the voice with his mind as he reached out towards it. _Why are you after Marlene?_

The world quivered as the voice tried to pull away from him. Instinctually Cloud reached out forcing the voice to remain in place. The voice quivered in Cloud's mental grasped like one of the palm sized rabbits Cloud used to capture as a child. The comparison disturbed Cloud. _I have to do this_, he reminded himself pushing the feeling aside. Or mostly aside his stomach was still twisting in displeasure.

Centering himself Cloud tried again. This time he applied a small potion of his will against the voice, trying his hardest not to dominate it. The memories of how it felt to be dominated drifted across his mind for an instant. He was not going to do that to someone not even an enemy. _Why are the children important? _

The quivering increased to a violent trembling as the voice tried to free itself from his grasp. A howl of agony shattered the empty silence. The cry sent chills though Cloud as his body empathized with the voice's terror. His mind, however, was so engulfed by his success he could not even acknowledge hearing the sound. The voice's defenses were crumbling under his mental assault. It would not take much now just a little more pressure and the voice would break, utterly.

The easiness of it all was intoxicating. He would have never imagined it would have been so simple. All it took was the slightest effort and the voice was practical his. Would it be just as easy controlling the others? Some distant part of him whispered, it would. Why should he stop at gathering information? With this new ability it would be so much simpler to use the voice as puppets.

_Puppets, _the word echoed in his mind as Cloud realized what not just what he had been thinking but what he had doing. He jerked his hand away from the darkness pulling it protectively against his chest as though the thoughts had begun to burn.

_I-I wasn't doing that. That's not me. _Denial was thick in his mind he did not want to believe what he had been willing to do. It had to be some type of trick like before. Jenova was messing with his mind. He wanted to deny it but the truth weight heavy in his mind burying him underneath a mountain of shame.

What kind of monster was he becoming? The voices might not be humans but they were people with wills of their own. Stealing others free will was something Sephiroth did. Not Him. Cloud was not turning into Him.

The voice tightened against him tantalizingly close whispering in silence to his mind. It would not take much... _**I am not Sephiroth**. _

Everything went silent for a moment letting Cloud regain control over his thoughts. This place...Cloud had to get out of here before he did something he regretted. Even now he could feel the voice's mind next to just waiting to be...

Taking a shaky breath Cloud tried to think of away out of the darkness. This was all in his mind, was not it, or was it in the voice's mind. Cloud was not sure which but he did not think it mattered. When he had been awake the voices had been nothing more than whispers. That was not exactly true but it had not been like this. All he needed to do was wake up.

Narrowing his eyes he tried to see past the darkness to the outside world where he belonged. The attempt seemed childish at first that was until things began to change.

Reds and whites began bleeding into the black forming a large blur. Cool night air brush soothingly across his aching body with the exception of his left side. There was something warm pressed against his left side.

The feeling of the voice became much more distant as it returned to being a whisper. As that voice dimmed Cloud began to hear the others. They tore at his mind threatening to drag him back into the darkness. Cloud did not allow himself to react to their presences. He kept focused on the cool night air surrounding his body.

It work, the voices faded to soft bearable whispers hovering along the edge of his awareness. Cloud had not been able to completely free his mind. He should not have expected to be able to free himself entirely from Her grip. Jenova still had Her claws sunk deep in his soul trying to pull him to Her.

For now he would have to resign to having the haunting feeling deep in his soul. As long as he continued fighting against her it would be alright. What a coward, he should not be putting up with her like this. If he was stronger he could free his mind.

Blinking rapidly Cloud tried to clear his vision to give himself something to focus on beside his own self destructive thoughts. Sephiroth had used thoughts like those against him before. This time he could not allow that to happen. Tifa and the others were not here to help keep him together. It was his responsibility to keep strong. Not that he was doing a good job.

After that bitter thought Cloud found that his vision had completely cleared. He gasped in surprise, hovering only a hand's span away from his face was Vincent. The dark man gave no response to Cloud's surprise his unreadable red eyes continued to stare down at Cloud.

Vincent's gaze made Cloud's skin crawl but that was not what caused the younger man to look away from his friend in shame. In the hazy of Cloud's mind he could vague remember seeing the world through those red eyes. What would Vincent do if he knew the truth?

Trying to distract himself from the shame coursing through his mind Cloud questioned Vincent. "What's going on?" Cloud winced as he heard his own voice. It was raw and weak, just like him. Here he was trying to make himself better instead of finding out what had happened. At least he had thought enough to ask the right question, even if it was for the wrong reasons.

Cloud remembered fighting the voices in the forest. After his crash into the tree his memories began to blur. Strange...vision that was best word were scattered across his memories. It was difficult for him to place the order of them. Many seemed to have come from fragments of other people's memories.

Not wanting to consider that at the moment Cloud turned his attention to their environment. Thick evergreen trees surround the pair confining Cloud's view of the world. They were still in the Sleeping forest but where.

The glitter of steel drew Cloud's attention to the ground beside him. Just like the vision his broadsword was resting beside him awaiting him. _Who had moved that?_ Kadaj was the only person Cloud could think of. The youngest of the voice had been the last here before Vincent arrived. _Why would he do that?_

Thinking about the silver haired boy sent a feeling of uncertain though Cloud's mind. There was something familiar about Kadaj.

Before Cloud could continue the train of thought his face flushed in embarrassment as he realized the compromising position he was in. Cloud was leaning against Vincent as the older man held him in a sitting position. Impulsively, Cloud tried to push Vincent off him to regain a portion of his dignity. His body protested the potential movement by sending pain flaring though out his nervous system.

Gasping from the pain Cloud suddenly realized just how vulnerable he was. From how his body was aching he was not sure he would be able to stand. Fighting was completely out of the question.

The damage was not permanent nor would it be deliberating for long. Underneath his skin he could feel the tingle of mako knitting his body back together. In a short amount of time his body would be completely healed except the part that hurt the most. Mako could not tear the Jenova out of him and heal those scars. Only he could if he was stronger.

Cloud turned his attention away from his troubles realizing that Vincent had not answered his question. It was not uncommon for Vincent to remain silent for extend periods of time but he always answered questions directed towards him. Vincent's answers were not always clear but he did answer.

The older man's silence began to put Cloud even more on edge. What could be keeping Vincent from answering? There were so many ways Cloud could answer that question each more terrifying than the first.

The memorial a year ago Vincent had been there, he saw Cloud's breakdown. After that Cloud doubted Vincent trusted the mercenary or his sanity. Finding the Cloud lying unconscious in the middle of nowhere could only worsen Vincent's opinion. Whatever he thought of Cloud could not be that far off the mark.

Vincent knew. In the vision, from what Cloud could piece together, Vincent had been able to detect the mercenary's presence. The dark man was not stupid he would know what had happened, even though Cloud unsure. There were so many things Cloud did not understand but Vincent, he had been at the beginning of everything, when Sephiroth had been conceived. If anyone know what was happening to Cloud Vincent would.

Cloud was afraid of that. Part of him wanted someone to explain what was happening, only a small part. The rest of him was scared that Vincent would say what Cloud dreaded the most. That Cloud was turning into Sephiroth. The mercenary could not deal with that not now maybe when it was over when he could think clearly, if it was ever over.

There was a second part to his fear. If Vincent did know did he hate Cloud for it or even worse could he be afraid of Cloud? Cloud tried to shake the thought away along with the feeling it was swirling in him.

Why did it matter what Vincent thought now. Over the last year Cloud had done everything in his power to drive his friends away. They all had to be afraid of him they had to hate for how he acted, Tifa especially. The only thing that he ever caused her was pain.

His fears could be misplaced Cloud thought half heartily trying to clear away the sudden depression weight down on his mind. There could be some other reasons ones that did not have to do with Cloud at all.

There was Marlene. Had Vincent come for the girl? It seemed farfetched for the dark man to go out of his way to save the girl but if someone had asked him. A sharp unidentifiable emotion twisted in Cloud's chest like a knife taking his breath away.

Tifa...she was the only one who knew that Marlene was missing. Cloud had promised he would save Marlene, did not Tifa trust him.

The thought of Tifa's distrust hurt more than all of his injuries combined. It was his fault. What right did he have to expect that Tifa would ever depend on him? He could not blame her. When had he ever kept any of his promises? Why should Tifa think that this one was any different than all the others?

This time would be different. Cloud fervently thought to himself, he was not going to fail her. No matter what happened to him, he would make sure Tifa would not get hurt, again.

The young mercenary began to realize that someone was missing. Marlene. Where was Marlene? Renewed Terror gripped Cloud snapping him out of his brooding. Vincent had Marlene in the vision. The girl was not here now. Had something happening to her?

Cloud was not sure how much time had passed between the visions and the present, anything could have happened. The last of the vision the one with Jenova had been like one of his episodes. What if he had hurt Marlene?

In his current physical condition it would have been impossible but how had he gotten most of the injuries. The tree surely caused most of them but doubt lingered in his mind. Vincent could have done some of them especial if Cloud was locked in a hallucination. No matter how crazed he was he would have hurt Marlene.

"Calm yourself." As expected, Vincent's voice was cool and flat making it impossible for Cloud to determine the man's emotions. Guiltily Cloud turned his head to face the older man wanting and not wanting to see the expression on Vincent's face. Nothing, like always Vincent kept his emotion's tightly guarded, the few that he had.

Cloud could not find his voice to ask about the little girl. There had to be an easier way. _You could see. _Cloud felt his eyes widen in terror. No, no he could not do that Vincent was his friend. What kind of monster was he to even consider it?

_That's what you are a monster. Turning into... Focus_, desperately Cloud focused on Vincent's face trying to keep those thoughts away. It was not working doubts along with fear creep into his mind causing his breath to come out into short panic burst. _Think of something else_.

"Why didn't you answer me?" The question came out of Cloud's mouth as a harsh snapped sharpened by the younger man's fears. Cloud felt an instant of relief as his mind settled only to have it sour into regret. He should not have snapped at Vincent like that. So weak, he could not control his emotions. To afraid to ask the questions he need answered.

The older man did not even bate an eye at Cloud's harsh tone he merely regarded the blond with an abnormal glimmer of concern in his eyes. Cloud careful ignored the expression not wanting to think of the reason the normal cold man would display even a tone of warmth.

"I was listening for our enemy." The voices were still there, Cloud trusted Vincent's observations but he was still surprised. Why? Marlene, _you idiot_, Vincent had the girl last. Since the voices had not yet attacked Cloud assumed that the dark man had Marlene safely hidden away. Cloud had not time to enjoy the small portion of relief that knowledge gave him.

When the voices came to reclaim the girl there was nothing Cloud and Vincent would be able to do. Against one of them Vincent would have stood a chance but the group would overtake him. In Cloud's state he would have been a hindrance. _Weak_, shaking his head Cloud forced back his self criticism. There was more to worry about than his mistakes, like why had the voices left.

As if by reply a deafening sound erupted from the forest due north of the pair sending minor trembles across the forest floor. Blasts like that one had been going off during the visions. Cloud searched his fleeting memories of the time. Someone had sent them off...Vincent, he was linked to them. Cloud shot a questioning look at his dark haired companion.

"They are too great a threat for me to handle alone." There was a hint of reproof in the dark man's voice causing a flush of embarrassment across the mercenary's face. Vincent's tone was an echo of Cloud's thoughts it just seemed more humiliating for someone else to point it out. "To divert their attention I set off a series of explosives. I left a few mines near the detonation sights to keep them occupied."

The moment he finished speaking an enormous explosion erupted once again from the north, slightly closer than the last. How on the Planet had Vincent been able to plan so far in advance?

Cloud always had trouble coming up with the most basic of plans, while in a few moments Vincent displayed an inhuman level of foresight. Foresight Cloud had not even known the older man possessed. Turks always advertised they were prepared to deal with anything after seeing a decade's inactive ex-Turk pull that off, Cloud could say the advertising was not an exaggeration. It was a good thing Reno and his group never showed so much initiative. In better circumstances Cloud would have actually smiled at his musing.

"How many mines did you set?" Explosion had been going off all during the vision. Cloud was curious to hear just how many mines Vincent had set. A silly question crossed the blonde's mind. How had Vincent been carrying so many around?

Where had that come from? Strange, Cloud's mood was starting to lighten ever so slightly. At the moment he felt more like himself than he had in years.

The older man's face remained blank as he answered the question. "Enough." Was Vincent joking? That could not be possible, Vincent never joked. The young man had to be reading too much into Vincent's answer. People could not change that much over a year or a lifetime, started to smile slightly. Maybe other things would not have changed.

Cloud's good humor end abruptly as he considered the reason for his mood. It was Vincent, he was the reason. The older man was acting like nothing had happened between them. Shame tugged at Cloud's heart. Here he was, believing lies again. Things were not going back the way they were. He had screwed up too much this time.

Making Tifa cry, she was not going to let him come back even if he could. There was something terrible wrong with him. More than he ever considered over the years. The hallucinations, the voice...the vision, they were not going to end.

_Don't think that_, killing Jenova would end them. Things might not continue the way they were but he would make sure Tifa was happy. He would bring Marlene back to her. After this he would not let anything hurt Tifa ever again.

"Are you sure?" In an attempted to recapture a trace of his once lighter mood Cloud attempted a joke. It fell flat before he had even finished saying it. Cloud would not let himself stop, depression was making him weak. He had to be strong for Tifa.

"Because it sounds like overkill to me." The joke sounded like a painfully desperate plea to Cloud's ears revealing his weakness to the older man. Shamefully Cloud looked away not wanting to see disapproval in Vincent's expression real or imagined. Vincent was going to abandon Cloud here, they all were. _You wanted it this way._

"No. They are all alive. The explosives were only enough to temporary distract them." _Still scared of being alone_, shutting the thought away Cloud smiled faintly. For someone with no sense of humor Vincent could be very amusing at times.

Looking down at his right arm Cloud frowned with confusion. An angry red gash glared out from Cloud's pale arm right above his glove. How had that happened?

During the vision Cloud could not remember seeing that particular injury. The pain coming from it was still fresh implying that it had been inflected after the tree. Something had happened after Vincent's arrival.

An episode, fearfully Cloud continued staring at the injury. Had he hurt himself, Cloud could only hope that was the answer. He could not bare the thought that he had done more.

It was silly getting so excited over this. Cloud had already reasoned Vincent would be acting differently if Cloud had harmed Marlene. What...what if it had been someone else. There could have been another member of AVALACHE here Cloud did not know about.

"I was unable to awaken you with conventional means therefore I tried a more creative application of a common one." Blinking with confusion Cloud's mind raced trying to decode what Vincent had said. The young mercenary could not think of any type of method of waking someone up that would leave a gash like that. A flash of insight hit him and Cloud turned back to face Vincent.

"You," Cloud keep a careful watch of the older man's pale face, "pinched me." The only answer to the question was the carefully blank expression on Vincent's face, a yes. Why Vincent was being so elusive? The mercenary could not think of a reason for Vincent not to answer the question.

As he continued looked at Vincent's visible guarded face, Cloud was not sure he wanted to know. It had to be a very distressing reason. A fraction of the vision flashed across Cloud's mind. Vincent shaking Cloud's lump body calling out Cloud's name with actual emotion in his voice.

The vision cleared as quickly as a heartbeat leaving Cloud puzzled. Was it possible that Vincent was embarrassed? In all their time together Cloud could not remember ever seeing the older man display that level of emotion. It was possible. The Vincent Cloud known would have considered behavior like that unseemly. There was logic in the conclusion a strange twisted amusing logic. Vincent Valentine embarrassed for worry about someone, not someone, Cloud.

The amusement faded. _He knows_, Cloud's pervious fear drifted back to the forefront of his mind. Only something that extreme would have drawn such a strong emotional response from Vincent. At the moment Cloud could not let himself think about the reason. It was not important. Getting out of here with Marlene was the only thing that was important.

"We have to get out of here. I can't fight." Admitting his weakness sent a rush of shame though Cloud. Not allowing himself to dwell on his weakness Cloud tried once again to spot Marlene. There was still no sign of the girl in the surrounding foliage. She had to be nearby. There had not been enough time for Vincent to have hidden her that far away. "Where's Marlene?"

The masked expression in Vincent's red eyes sharpened as Cloud asked the question. The younger man swallowed, he had just revealed that he know Vincent had Marlene. _Stupid_, if Vincent had any suspicions on what had happened Cloud had just answered them all.

After almost losing himself in a lie all those years ago Cloud had swore never to lie again. That had not even lasted a year. During his last months in the Seventh Heaven he had lied to Tifa, telling her he was fine, telling himself he was fine. That had been one of his worse lies. Everything had turned out so wrong. He hurt Tifa. Even after that he was still to afraid of the truth, to afraid to accept the rejection of his friends.

Instead of stating his accusations or even hinting at them Vincent broke the silence in an odd way. "Come out." Cloud had only a moment to puzzle over the command before there was a stir of movement behind the dark man's back. _Marlene_, shyly the little girl stepped away from Vincent stopping directly in front of Cloud.

"Hey. Marlene." As the girl emerging from her hiding spot Cloud put on his special smile one just for Marlene. It was a silly smile that always made her laugh before but not now. Cloud felt the smile melt into a frown as he got his first good look at the girl.

Marlene did not look up to acknowledge that she had even heard him. Her dark eyes remained focus on the grassy floor on the forest her hands fidgeting nervously at the hems of her dirt smudged pale dress. The little girl Cloud remembered never acted like that not even around strangers. Despair sank into to Cloud's soul crushing the air out of his lungs.

Despite how hard things got Marlene had always been like a beam of light, bright and cheerful. Even after Denzel had developed Geostigma Marlene continued to smile. Now-now she was not smiling.

Cloud could not even being to think of what the voices could have done to Marlene to change her so much. They would have had to do something terrible to take her smile away like that. No it was not there fault it was Cloud's.

He should have gotten to the church faster. He could have gone faster. If he had then Marlene would be where she belonged safe and sound with Tifa. Not traveling across the continents with a group of mad men serving a monster. No child should have to go through that especially Marlene.

The way she was acting now it was as if she was afraid, afraid of Cloud. With Vincent in the vision Marlene had acted as herself, not now. Seeing Cloud must have upset her more than everything else that had happened.

Cloud could not blame her for her fear. The last time she had seen him he had been acting crazy. If that was not enough she surely heard something about the memorial, probably from Barrett. He would have told all the kids just how crazy and dangerous Cloud was. One of the few times Barrett would have been right about something.

Even if the fear was justified it hurt so much actually seeing the fear. Cloud would never go so far to say Marlene was a like a daughter to him but they had been very close during the year they had spent together. For her to be afraid of him like this...

All this time he kept telling himself this was how she would react, how all his friends would react. Until now he had never believed his fears. They haunted him but deep inside he thought it would have been different. Reality hurt, he should have to keep relearning that lesson.

"We need to go." Until Marlene was returned to the Seventh Heaven she was in danger. Thinking of the girl's safe Cloud tried to pull himself out of the pit of despair he had fallen into. It seemed so pointless. One of the few people he cared for was scared of him. How would the others act?

He was not the one that was important. Tifa, Marlene, Vincent, and all of his other friends were important. They were the reason he was doing this. If they all hated him in the end it did not matter. As long as they were alive that was important.

"Can you stand?" Lost in his inner turmoil Cloud was only about to shake his head, _so pathetic_. Without another word Vincent pulled the mercenary's arm over his shoulder. Shame, fear, and a thousand of other negative emotions swarmed in Cloud's mind each fighting for dominions. The conflict kept him from glancing at Vincent as the older man pulled Cloud into a standing position. Did he even care which one won?

The volume of the whispers at the edge of Cloud's mind increased snapping the young man out of his current mental state. "They're coming." Cloud's voice was barely a whisper as he informed his dark haired friend of the danger.

Without questioning his younger friend's knowledge Vincent looked behind. Narrowing his red eyes he appeared to be gauging the distance between the groups. There was little doubt in Cloud's mind that Vincent would be able to accomplish the feat. Vincent's senses were beyond normal humans linked with his Turk training there was nothing he could not detect.

Even if it was possible for the voices to avoid Vincent's detection there was nothing Cloud could do to help. He had the ability to accurately detect the voice but was now too afraid to try. Memories of what he had been doing in the dark place still haunted his memory. If he went back their again Cloud was sure he could stop himself from making a terrible mistake.

A huge blast ripped through the gentle forest causing the ground to shake nearly causing Cloud to loss his footing. That explosion was much closer than the last ones had been. They were not going to have enough time to get away before the voices arrived.

There was only one course of action left for the small group if they wanted most of the members to survive. Cloud was having trouble standing even with Vincent's supported. All he would do was slow them down. They would have to leave him behind. Somehow he would find enough strength to keep the voices away from his friends.

Cloud started to open his mouth to voice his plan but an unusually intense look from Vincent silenced him. What was Vincent thinking? If he knew what Cloud was going to say he then he had to know it was the only way. Unless there was something more than explosives up Vincent's sleeves. "Marlene, go to the bike." Without even a glance at Cloud the little girl sprinted ahead of the men disappearing into the dense forest.

Glancing over to the dark haired man Cloud tried to drive the image of Marlene out of his mind. Getting her back to the Seventh Heaven would make her smile again. Would not it?

"Bike?" Out of the many things Cloud thought Vincent was capable of having a bike was not one of them. The mercenary was still unsure of how exactly how Vincent had gotten to the forest but he doubted the man had ridden a motorcycle. If Vincent had been riding a motorcycle there was no way on the Planet he could have arrived before Cloud or the voices.

Without answering Vincent began to drag Cloud in the direction where Marlene had disappeared. _So weak_, it was so humiliating to have Vincent practical carrying him, like he was a child. Everything had run completely out of control, not that it had even been under Cloud's control. He should have been able to do this alone. He was going to do this alone.

When they arrived at a relatively safe location Cloud would make Vincent take Marlene back to Midgar. All Cloud would need after that was a short rest to regain enough strength to fight. It would not have to be a long rest. Even now he could feel his strength returning as the mako continued healing his injuries. The voices had likely collected Cloud's weapons of the Fenrir so Cloud could only hope they would not come back for this one. If they did then would just fight without a weapon.

"I believe you call it the Fenrir." For a moment Cloud paused in confusion as he tried to decipher Vincent's off hand comment. Why would Vincent mention the Fenrir? Cloud blinked as realization hit him, the bike it was the Fenrir. How on the Planet had Vincent gotten it?

The bike had been left at the mercy of the voices. Would not it have been logical for them to disable it limit Cloud's mobility. First leaving Cloud alive and now this was it possible they wanted Cloud to escape.

No, that did not make any sense. At the ambush they had been trying to kill him, had not they. Cloud's breath quickened with terror. They had been trying to convert him. Were they so sure of Jenova's control over him that it did not matter to them if he escaped?

The world shaking ripped Cloud back to the real world. Another explosive, Cloud cursed himself for not paying attention. If he had been stuck in his mind then he could have been able to judge the distance from the last blast.

Vincent stopped abruptly puzzled Cloud looked, they were there. Lying only a few feet ahead of them was Cloud's bike the Fenrir. Standing obediently beside the Fenrir was little Marlene. Keeping his attention away from the girl Cloud focused on his motorcycle. All his swords with the exception of the one in the woods were in there proper place. The observation caused a feeling of uneasiness to swarm in Cloud's mind, one that he could not quite banish.

Seemingly unconcerned with the condition of the bike Vincent released his grip allowing the younger man to stand on his own. Cloud stumbled a moment as he regained his balance, his face red with an embarrassed flusher. Maybe his stumbling had amused Marlene. Taking a hopeful glance in the girl's direction Cloud was met with disappointment. She had not even looked up.

"Can you drive?" Cloud's throat had tightened to the point were he was having trouble answer so he nodded to the dark man. Staggering slightly Cloud crossed the short distance to his bike without looking at either of his companions. Cloud frown as he arrived, there was not enough room on the bike for all three of them. It was clear that Vincent was planning on Cloud driving with Marlene as the additional rider. The dark man could not be planning on just staying here.

"What about you?" The question was difficult to force out of Cloud's uncooperative throat. There was no reason for Cloud to be so upset, Marlene was fine.

Keeping himself focused Cloud looked towards Vincent feeling his heart sink further. The red caped man had nearly retreated into the thick foliage of the forest. They would kill him. With his injuries there was not a thing Cloud could do to stop him. _It would be...**No. **_

What was wrong with him? Cloud was a monster if he could not stop himself from thinking those thoughts. At least now he was able to control them. What if his control failed, the only answer was a shiver down Cloud's spine.

In the moonlight Vincent eyes seemed to have changed from red to gold. It was not the light they had to change. Turning into Chaos, Vincent could not possible be thinking of traveling like that. "Are you crazy?" Not that Cloud had a right to accuse anyone of that fault but at least he was not trying to become an uncontrollable monster.

"You need not worry I have developed more control over my demons since last we meet." A frown crossed Cloud's face as he tried to judge how truthfully his dark friend was being. It was not that he did not want to trust Vincent, he wanted to trust Vincent, but the older man had never been able to control any of the beasts before. For him to be able to do it after only a year of time seemed very odd.

"There is a lake due west of here. Meet me there." Without giving Cloud a chance to protest Vincent disappeared into the forest. Bending over Cloud began to pull the Fenrir up. There was no reason to worry about Vincent the man never lied.

Cloud could feel Marlene's fearfully gaze drilling into his back as he finish righting the Fenrir. _I am so sorry. _The words would not come out of his mouth making Cloud feel even worse. She needed some type of assurance but Cloud could say anything. _Don't worry your going home soon. _

----

At the far left edge of Nanaki's peripheral there was a blur of green. Nanaki halted his flight as one of the more aggressive MESSENGER attempted to disembowel him. The beast faulted miserable but instead of continuing the attack it stood there blocking Nanaki's path so it's brothers could caught up to the feline.

Growling in frustration at the beast's poor tactics, Nanaki merely leap over the MESSENGER. As soon as he felt the gravel under his paws he continued running. Nanaki's few doubts on the beast's main weakness had vanished during the chase. They had the poorest reasoning skills Nanaki had even encounter in a creature. At a number of times they could have taken him but he had survived due to their single mindedness.

There lacking mental capacities were well compensated by their numbers. It would have been simple for Nanaki to defeat a small group of the MESSENGER with few complications. The pity was he was not facing a small group but a numberless army. Nanaki's only defense, not including their stupidity, was to out run them. At the beginning the task had been easy now it was becoming increasingly difficult.

Nanaki's endurance was withering away with each drop of his paws. It had lowered to the point that the MESSENGERS, he had easily outrun at the beginning, were almost on top of him. The faster runners of the pack had been able to pass him. Unlike living creatures the MESSENGERS it seemed had an endless supply of energy.

At Nanaki's current rate he would soon falter leaving himself at the mercy of the MESSENGER. Mercy the beasts and there controller did not appear to have for enemies. At least they were focused on him instead of the innocent humans of Midgar.

All during his flight Nanaki had hoped for a miracle despite how irrational it seemed. His impulsive plan had been based purely on his running abilities, which were failing. Before he had begun he had believed he would come up with some way to survive during the run. At least twenty minutes had passed and his plan had not evolved pasted running for his life.

He could not allow himself to die not only for the sake of himself and his friends but for the sake of the entire Planet. There was information he had concluded about the enemy that his companions must have. With this as his motivating he continued running even as he felt his body begin to fail.

A loud roaring sound, registering in Nanaki's mind as a mechanical engine, though it was too loud to be a conventional engine, interrupted the feline's attempts at creating a working escape plan. Looking into the darkening sky over Midgar Nanaki tried to identify the cause of the sound, which seemed very familiar now.

Several hundred meters away from Nanaki's current position was the Highwind. Nanaki had never considered the mechanical creation attractive by any stretch of the imagination but seeing it hanging over the city surround by the faint lights of the awaking evening stars it was spectacular.

The airship was flying dangerous low almost brushing against the roofs of Midgar's buildings. The cargo hatch was wide open facing in his direction. A familiar blur that could only be Yuffie was leaning out far outside the safely zone. Heedless of the danger, like always, the ninja waved at him in a highly animated fashion.

At this distance it was impossible for Nanaki to hear her screams but it was apparent what she wanted. From her gestures and how low the airship was Nanaki assumed that his friends wanted him to do the impossible. _Come on Red jump_, Nanaki could hear Yuffie's high pitched voice screaming encouragement in his mind. His body allowed him the ability to jump further than normal humans but there was way he could make a jump at that distance.

A dark figure with a shock of red at the top of it's head peered out beside Yuffie waving with less excitement than the Ninja. Reno, if Nanaki's lungs had not been burning from lack of oxygen he would have sighed. Why were they expecting this of him? Where in all his travels with the group had he displayed the ability to jump so far. Humans they always demand the most insane things.

Even though his was not planning on making the insane jump his friends expected of him Nanaki continued running towards the Highwind. There was a chance he could jump aboard if the airship was closer and lower. At the moment it was his only chance. From behind he could hear the MESSENGERS increasing there paces as they sensed him reaching his limit.

As he continued getting closer the Highwind he was able to make out his friends much better. On the right side of the bay stood Tifa with her hands raised to her mouth shouting something at him. On the opposite side of the bay Yuffie had gone from standing still to jumping up and down. The girl was going to fall out of the ship if she kept that up.

There were no traces of the two Turks. It appeared that Reno had returned to the safety of the interior of the bay after making a single attempt. That was not surprising in the least. In the past Nanaki had been an enemy of the two men, unlike Tifa he had not encountered them on friendlier terms. The fact that Reno made an attempt to help was encourage. As long as Yuffie keep from picking a fight things should go smoothly between the two groups.

Nanaki could not hold off jumping any longer even though the airship was just out of his natural jumping distance. In a few more moments his body would collapse under the strain. No amount of will power could keep him going past that point. The MESSENGERS released a growl of anticipation.

Nanaki focused all his attention on the golden lights coming out of the cargo bay placing the monsters, his friends, and the danger of the Planet in the furthest reaches of his mind. There was only his objective, the cargo bay.

Without breaking his pace Nanak bounded into the air. As he flew through the air his mind remained on the target. It was growing steady closer and closer. Then with horror he realized that he did not have the momentum to complete the jump.

Nanaki stretch his massive body to his limit trying to lengthening his weakening jump. It was working but he was not sure it would be enough. The cargo bay was just out of reach.

"**You can do it Red!**" Yuffie shrill voice shattered Nanaki intense concentration. _How could she_, he thought as he felt himself freefalling through the air unable to make heads or tails of were he was falling.

All his thoughts on varies ways to harm the young ninja came to a halt as he slammed into a large metallic surface. The landing was jarred his entire skeletal system but he was alive that was all he could ask for. Somehow Yuffie's shouts of encouragement had defeated the laws of physicals.

A loud slam came from in front of him, the bay door closing Nanaki mused as his mind cleared. Before he could even attempt to stand something warm wrapped around in a tender hug. It was Tifa of course the human woman was prone to emotion displays. Normal Nanaki found them comforting but now as not the time.

Gently Nanaki used his noise to nudge the woman on the shoulder. Without protest the woman broke the embrace smiling brightly with relief. As she got a better look at him a frown crossed her feature. Yuffie was the first to comment on his injures. "Man, Red you look like you've been though the shredder."

Without a care for his personal space the ninja had practical put her small face in his own. "Do you mind?" Nanaki could not believe he had just said that, there was not time for petty squabbling. Not realizing the situation or not caring Yuffie smirked arrogantly at him. "Not really."

Fighting down the harsh response at the tip of his tongue Nanaki looked past Yuffie giving Tifa a pleading look. His plead was not necessary the woman was already planning to defuse things.

"Yuffie can you help me patch Red up." Smiling at the ninja, Tifa handed the girl a handful of bandages. The girl pouted as she accepted the wraps much to Nanaki's relief she backed away. With Yuffie no longer blocking his field of vision Nanaki made a very surprising discovery.

Knelling to the right of Tifa was Rude. In the silent Turk's hands was a small first aid kit that Tifa busily sorting though. The familiarity the pair seemed to have with each other was not what Nanaki had expected. During the earlier conversation with the Turks Nanaki had gathered Tifa and Rude know each other. Seeing how they were acting now Nanaki reevaluated his first impression from acquaintances to friends, maybe more. The way Rude was watching Tifa made the feline wonder if friends as inappropriate description as acquaintances had been.

Did Cloud knew, Nanaki consider the possibility as he watched the pair working on him. The inner working of his friends' relationships was a territory Nanaki was uncomfortable with. Beside how would Yuffie put it...oh yes it was none of his business. It was times like this Nanaki was grateful for being the last of his kind. Mating rituals, at least the human ones, seemed to be needlessly complex.

The aching in Nanaki's body began to die away as his friends began to apply varies potions to his injuries. Nanaki allowed himself a moment to enjoy to cooling feeling that came from the potions as they sank deep into his skin. For an instant he wanted nothing more than to take a long nap to refresh from all his running but he could not. Until he was able to warn his friends he could not rest.

"What were those things?" The question came from a Yuffie who was still sulking over having been put to work. There was a murmur of similar question from the rest of the group along with a few idle speculations. Nanaki could no longer laze in the comfort of the healing items this was his opportunity to speak.

"They are known as MESSENGERS. One of the Planet's many different types of guardians." Nanaki's bold display of knowledge brought the humans' chatter to an end leaving the room eerily silent. Three sets of human eyes and a pair of shades rested on the feline making Nanaki feel very uncomfortable. The holes in his understanding of the MESSENGERS transformed from tiny pin points to bottomless pits. His companions were expecting him to inform them on all of the different aspects of the MESSENGERS but his knowledge was very limited. Unsure of how to continue Nanaki froze allowing the others to make inaccurate conclusions.

Reno was the first out of the group to vocalize his opinion. "That's gratitude for you. You wasted all your time trying to save the Planet and it comes back to bite you. No pay, no thanks, I don't see why AVALACHE even tries."

While Reno's criticism was valid using the give information the comment on AVALACHE at the end was inappropriate for the situation. Tifa and Nanaki were willing to ignore the comment but Yuffie was not as mature as her age dictated she should act.

In a huff the young ninja stomped over to Reno jumping into his face. She then began to snap at him with more hostility than was required. "Like you would understand you're just a crazy drunk."

The Turk continued leaning casual against one of the many crates littering unfazed by Yuffie's accusations. There was a moment when it looked as though the Turk was just going to ignore the ninja. Relief filled Nanaki and he prepared to continue with his story. Then without missing a beat Reno leered down at Yuffie, "You must not understand either. From what I've heard the Planet is not your primary concern."

Oh no, Nanaki watch in a mixture of embarrassment and horror as Yuffie's face turned a very uncommon shade of red. There was nothing he could do or say that would keep the girl form erupting or the fight she would surely initiate.

"Yuffie, could you please finish helping me with Nanaki?" Tifa's voice was gentle yet strong as she attempted to diffuse the situation. Conflict rage across Yuffie's faces causing Nanaki to worry about how she would respond. Yuffie was not always the most reasonable individual. The leer on Reno's face could not be helping the situation. Nanaki would have tried to help but he was afraid that if he spoke it would be the spark to ignite the conflict.

"Come on, Yuffie." Once again Tifa's voice was gentle there was a hint of persistence in it this time. Nanaki breathed a sigh of relief as Yuffie gave Reno a final hatefully glare then stalked back towards the group. Yuffie only acted this agitated when something was deeply troubling her. The encounter with the MESSENGERS appeared to have shaken her worse than she was permitting herself to reveal. Poor Yuffie, human women were sensitive to the strangest things.

"Reno before you say anything could you please let Red continue." With a guileless expression the red haired Turk closed his mouth bowing towards Tifa in a most exaggerated fashion. Shaking his head at the human's arrogance Nanaki once again discovered he was at the attention of his companions' attention.

Nanaki felt himself freeze again his who warning flying out of his mind. Why was he acting like a pup? Just because he was not a scholar on the MESSENGER did not mean he was ill informed. Everyone was depending on his answers, it was so nerve racking.

"You can continue now." The dark haired woman rubbed her soft hands against Nanaki's flank with encouragement. Giving Tifa a smile of gratitude for her help in regaining his courage the feline continued.

"The Planet is not the enemy here. In most circumstances the MESSENGERS could only be summoned by the Cetra." As expected there were several gasp of disbelief came from his audiences. The worse came from Tifa who had been the closes to their Cetra friend. "Aeris was the last and she..." The woman could not continue.

"Yes all the Cetra are dead but Jenova still lives." Everything exploded at once. "What the- . "

"NO WAY, we killed that freak."

"Oh Cloud."

There were several other more crude remarks coming mainly from Yuffie and Reno but it had become impossible for Nanaki to distinguish the differences. The human voices blurred together pounding at his sensitive ears.

"Please let me finish." Nanaki roared over the human's chatter to reclaim their fleeting attention. There was a pause and Nanaki leap back into his narrative before the humans stated talking again.

"That is not a fact but the most probable conclusion. At the outbreak of Geostigma many of the elders began to suspect that the monster had survived. In all the records of the Cetra the only being that could harness the energy of the Planet was Jenova. With technology humans can access a portion of the Planet's power but not on the magnitude the elders were sensing.

"I was not certain at first until the memorial." At the corner of Nanaki's vision he saw Tifa lower her head. "Cloud's," Nanaki searched for a word that would not speak to negatively of his young friend. After all none of this was Cloud's fault. "...strange behavior pointed in the direction of Jenova being the enemy. The arrival of men that appear like Sephiroth only adds more evidences.

"Using it's link to the Planet Jenova theoretically could control the MESSENGERS." Pausing Nanaki gave his companions the chance to review the information. "Why would Jenova send them after the ladies?" Reno asked with uncharacteristic thoughtfulness as he stared blankly at the back wall of the bay. It was strange seeing the brash Turk seeming so reserved.

"They were after us?" Stupefied the feline could only start at the bewildered ninja. How on the Planet could she not have noticed?

"Cloud." The soft whisper escaped from Tifa as the young woman came to Nanaki's conclusion. She covered her mouth grief tangible as tears in her eyes. Hesitantly Rude placed his arm around Tifa's shoulders to comfort the martial artist.

"What do you mean by Cloud?" Once again Nanaki was taken back by Yuffie's inability to grasp a simple concept. The ninja was looking between Nanaki and Tifa trying to decide which would answer her question.

Sighing heavy the feline answered the girl, "To weaken Cloud mental Jenova is trying to keep him separated from his most important person." Nanaki keep from naming Tifa so not to further distress the woman. At the moment she looked horrible. Tears were freely falling from her eyes for Tifa to allow that she had to feel terrible.

Rude was making a fumbled attempt at consulting her. Seeing the frantic look on his face could have been amusing if it was not caused by Nanaki's grieving friend.

Returning his attention to Yuffie Nanaki was puzzled to see a faint blush on the girl's cheeks. The girl's eye glittered in bright excitement.

"Jenova thinks I am Cloud's most important person."


End file.
